Georgia's Department of Resources regulates adoptions.
In Georgia, adoptions are regulated by the Department of Human resources based on laws 9-8-1 through 19-8-25 of Georgia's General Assembly. This law contains regulations from the requirements for legal adoption, the court hearing required for adoption and the legal ramifications of adoption, as well as illegal behaviors regarding adoption advertising and enticement.
Requirements
To petition to adopt a child, the petitioner must be 25 years old or married and living with a spouse, at least ten years older than the child, at least six months in their own domicile and financially and mentally able to care for the child permanently.
Custody
A child is adoptable if any living parent or guardian voluntarily surrendered all rights to the child in writing or if the rights have been terminated by the court. If the child is 14 years of age or older, his consent for adoption is required.
Loss of Parental Rights
If a child has been abandoned or the parents are missing and cannot be found after a thorough search then written termination of parental rights is not required. This is also true if the parent has been found insane or incapacitated, having failed in providing proper care and a secure and stable home.
Hearing
Georgia requires uncontested adoptions to be brought before the court within 120 days of filing. The adoptive parents may undergo an investigation to determine that the petition for adoption is truthful, which includes the circumstances by which the child was placed for adoption, whether the adoptive parents are fit financially, physically and mentally to care for the child, the mental state of the child, the stability of the home and the consent or abandonment of legal rights by any living relative. The court hearing will examine these factors and if it finds everything to be legal and right, it will issue a decree of adoption. If not, it will either dismiss the petition for adoption or schedule another hearing to allow the petitioners time to comply with the court.
Legal Ties
Once the decree of adoption is issued, ties to the child's biological family are severed. This includes rights to inheritance. The adoption creates a tie to the new legal parents equal to that of a biological child, and the child enjoys rights and privileges of a biological child, including inheritance.
Foreign Adoption
Georgia law recognizes an adoption issued by another jurisdiction, whether in the United States or by another country, as legal. Any rights given to an adopted child in the state of Georgia are granted to children legally adopted outside of the state.
Court Records
Court records regarding adoption are sealed save to the concerned parties. If someone outside of the concerned parties requests access to the adoption records, a hearing will determine whether or not they can read the court records. Notice must be given to the adoptive parents who have the option of appearing at a hearing to explain why the petitioner should not read the records. The adoptive child is allowed access to the court records, including the name of the biological parents, after his 21st birthday. An adopted child can access the date and place of birth, genetic, social and health information, but not the name of the biological parents.
Illegal Activity
It is illegal for an agency not established as a child-placing agency by Georgia's Department of Human Resources to advertise adoption or the arrangement of adoptions, or to offer inducements to encourage parents to part with their children. It is illegal for anyone to sell a child.
Tags: adoptive parents, adopted child, adoption issued, biological child, biological parents, care child