THE FINALIZATION OF AGENCY ADOPTIONS IN VIRGINIA
By Colleen Quinn, Esquire
The Adoption & Surrogacy Law Center
CONGRATULATIONS – YOU ARE REACHING THE FINAL STEPS OF COMPLETING YOUR AGENCY ADOPTION WHICH IS THE FINALIZATION PROCESS. BELOW IS A SUMMARY OVERVIEW OF THE PROCESS:
In the traditional adoption agency placement, the birth parent(s) do not meet or select the adopting parent(s). Rather, the birth parent(s) enter(s) into an Entrustment Agreement with the agency and the agency decides with whom the child will be placed. Agencies can be public or private. In some agency placements, with the agreement of the biological parent(s), some general information may be obtained from, or contact may occur with, the adopting parents. Virginia also now allows agency placements in which the biological parent(s) can select and meet the adopting parent(s).
Foster care and special needs placements also tend to be agency placements. There are many waiting children of all backgrounds who want to be adopted and often there are federal and state subsidies available to help defray adoption costs.
Frequently Asked Questions:
WHEN CAN THE ADOPTION PETITION BE FILED TO FINALIZE THE AGENCY ADOPTION?
To be able to file the Petition to finalize your child’s agency adoption, the child must have been in your physical care for at least six months AND you must have had three post-placement visits by the supervising licensed adoption agency. The underlying parental rights of both biological or placing parents also need to have been terminated by the agency.
WHAT INFORMATION AND DOCUMENTS NEED TO BE PROVIDED AND WHAT ARE THE COSTS?
Our office needs the following information in order to finalize your agency adoption:
- We will send you a retainer letter to sign and return with the retainer fee. Current costs and fees can be obtained from our office. Costs include the court filing fee and the issuance of two new birth certificates if the child was born in Virginia. Additional costs and fees apply if the child was born in another state. In foster care placements, the local department of social services may agree to pay the attorney fees or reimburse them to you as part of any subsidy or adoption services agreement.
- After receiving the retainer letter and retainer fee from you, we will then send a letter to the licensed child placement agency or department of social services advising them of our legal representation and requesting that the agency please forward to us the agency’s consent and biological parent termination papers. For an out of state agency, we will furnish them with a sample Virginia consent and make clear to them what documentation and information is needed.
- We need you to send us your home study or make arrangements for the agency to send us the home study.
WHAT HAPPENS ONCE WE RECEIVE THE REQUESTED INFORMATION AND DOCUMENTATION?
- Once we receive the required information and documentation, we then prepare the Petition and Order of Reference for you the adoptive parents to review and sign before a notary (once six months have passed from the date the child has come into the physical custody of the adoptive parent(s)).
- After filing the Petition with attachments and Order of Reference, the court will then enter the Order of Reference.
- The agency that performed the post-placement visits will then within sixty days file its report of investigation with the Court and the Commissioner of Social Services.
- After the supervising agency files its report, the court will enter a Final Order.
- The new birth certificate will then be issued. The birth certificate amendment process in Virginia (for a child born in Virginia) takes another 8-16 weeks on average (depending on the backlog – there are ways we can expedite for good cause such as if the birth certificate is needed in order to obtain a passport in order to leave the country). Other states vary in terms of the length of processing.
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