What is involved in adopting a child?
A child may be adopted if (a) the parent-child relationship as to each living parent has been terminated; (b) the parent whose rights have not been terminated is the spouse of the petitioner and the proceeding is for a step-parent adoption; or (c) the child is at least two years old, one parent’s rights have been terminated, and the person seeking the adoption has been a managing conservator of the child or has had actual care, possession of the child for at least six months (one year if the non-terminated parent does not consent) or is the child’s former stepparent. The court must find that the adoption is in the child’s best interest. The court will appoint an investigator to complete an evaluation after the child is born and living in the prospective adoptive parents’ home. Texas law also requires a criminal history check, and in cases not involving a stepparent, a Health, Social, Education, and Genetic History Report on the child.
