[curvesmom]

We found out that my first cousin by marriage is pregnant with her fourth child. She isn't raising any of them and we have offered to adopt the baby. Has anyone had a similiar experience? We are trying to find out how to legally adopt. My understanding is that we can't have her assign parental rights until after the baby is born, but when we take him home from the hospital, if he isn't legally our's how do we put him on our insurance etc.? How long does this process usually take?

[Mommy2Sean]

It is my understanding that federal law requires your health insurance provider to allow you to place an "adoption pending" child on your insurance.

As far as how long it will take, that depends on your state. I live in Florida. We had a problem with the "legal father" (not the birth father), so our adoption wasn't finalized until 7 months after our son was born. If everything had gone as expected, everything should have been completed within 120 days.

You can call a local adoption agency to obtain information without making a commitment to use that agency.

[SurprisedAMom]

Hi curvesmom,

In our state, OH, we were allowed to bring our son home from the hospital. But we were legally just babysitting, until the birthmother terminated her parental rights in front of a judge 5 days later. Then he was legally placed in our custody. We had to do everything as if it were a traditonal adoption. The courts did not veiw it as a relative adoption unless it was a stepfather/mother or a biological grandparent. We had an agency and a lawyer. The agency helped us with all our homestudies, training and counselin (both for us and birthmother). The lawyer helped us with all our court dates, including hire a lawyer for the birthmother to represent her at her termination of parental rights hearing.

Good Luck! I wish you and your family the best.

[Lynard1210]

I also live in Ohio and am adopting my step-daughter's baby. For purposes of insurance, give the insurance company a call and find out what legal requirement you need. We have looked into Legal Custody or Legal Guardianship first prior to adopting, because in Ohio we have to wait 6 months. Fortunately, because my stepdaughter is 18, she and the baby are covered (age 19 is considered emancipated unless a full time student). My stepdaugher also applied for Medicaid. All pregnant women within certain income guidelines are eligible. Have the birthmom sign up for that if she doesn't have any current insurance. The baby is covered for around 60 days after the birth by Medicaid.

Hope this helps!

Lynn