[theLBs]

I'm posting his question for a friend who is not a member. She and her husband welcomed their baby girl home from Korea after a 2 1/2 year wait. They've had 5 of the required 6 post placement visits, and they finalized the adoption in November. I adopted my son through domestic infant adoption, and we have all of our placement visits BEFORE finalization, so this is confusing to me.

Since the adoption is finalized, is there anything that could change that at the final post placement visit? What would happen, if the couple were separated? Could the adoption be in jeopardy?

Thanks for your replies.

[LJR1974]

Yes, it's confusing to me too. We also adopted from Korea and our post placement visits were also before finalization.

That said, we also adopted from Guatemala and we had post placement visits after finalization for him. They were more informational for the agency and for Guatemala than requirements.

If the adoption is truly finalized to my knowledge it can only be in jeopardy if the child is in danger (abuse, neglect, that sort of thing). The same as if the child had been born to them.

[sak9645]

If a married couple adopted a child, and had a full and final adoption either overseas or in the U.S., separation or divorce after the finalization would not nullify the adoption.

Whether a full and final adoption occurred overseas, as with a child adopted from China, or whether the child was adopted in a U.S. court after the adoptive parents took custody of him/her under a decree of guardianship issued by the foreign government, as with a child adopted from Korea, the child was legally adopted by both parents. If separation or divorce occurred subsequently, custody of and/or visitation with the child would be determined in the process, just as it would if the parents had given birth to the child.

Nowadays, many divorcing couples enter into shared custody arrangements, where both remain actively involved in their children's lives. A couple in my China travel group divorced with such an arrangement, which has been logistically difficult for the parents, but absolutely wonderful for their daughter from China, who remains very close to both parents, as well as to the new husband of the Mom, who has since remarried.

Other families opt for more traditional custody and visitation agreements. Financial support agreements also become part of the process.

Divorce does not, in and of itself, cause the divorcing parties to have their parental rights revoked. Neither the U.S. state of residence or the foreign country from which a child was adopted would have any standing to seek to have the adoption overturned.

Of course, if there was evidence that one parent was abusive or neglectful, the courts could terminate his/her parental rights and award custody to the other parent. And if both parents were found to be seriously unfit, the child could be placed in foster care until new arrangements for a permanent family could be made, just as if the child was born to the parents instead of adopted by them.

Sharon