As you begin to research adoption, you will find that every state has its own laws and regulations regarding adoption. These laws pertain to who can adopt, who can be adopted, and how the process works. Alabama adoption laws will differ from other state’s adoption laws and the laws about intercountry adoption to the state of Alabama. Alabama adoption laws pertain just to domestic adoption through four different types of adoption: private infant adoption, foster care adoption, kinship or relative adoption, and stepparent adoption.
1. According to Alabama Adoption Laws, Who is Eligible to Adopt?
According to Alabama adoption laws, any person living in the state of Alabama at the time of the adoption can adopt if they are 19 years of age or older. Individuals can be single, married, divorced, or widowed and be eligible to adopt according to Alabama Adoption laws. Married couples who plan to pursue an adoption in Alabama must be married for at least three years before they apply to adopt. If the hopeful adoptive parents are married, one of the adoptive parents must be a United States citizen. No individuals may be prevented from adoption based on age or if they are employed and work outside of the home. Alabama adoption laws currently do not prevent same-sex couples or LGBTQ+ individuals from adopting.
2. Home Study is Necessary According to Alabama Adoption Laws
All hopeful adoptive parents must undergo an adoption home study in the state in which they reside according to Alabama adoption laws. The home study according to Alabama state laws requires all individuals living in the hopeful adoptive family home over the age of 19 must undergo a background check to be eligible to adopt. The home study will be done by the adoption agency licensed in your state if you do not live in Alabama or an adoption agency in Alabama. A social worker from the adoption agency will come to the hopeful adoptive parents’ home and do a walk-through to ensure the home is safe and there is adequate room for the child or children you wish to adopt. Any safety issues will be addressed and according to the child’s age. Appropriate child-proofing must take place.
According to Alabama adoption laws, the social worker must conduct at least three face-to-face interviews with the prospective adoptive parents, this includes at least one joint interview with the couple, an individual interview for each adoption applicant, and one home visit. These interviews must not be done on the same day. If there are any other adults in the home or any children in the home must be interviewed once as well. Any adult children who have since moved out of the home must be interviewed by telephone by the social worker.
Alabama adoption laws require that the hopeful adoptive parents get six letters of recommendation to include with the home study showing that they are capable and loving parents and good citizens. Many adoption agencies will have their recommendation on who these recommendations should be from, but Alabama adoption laws allow for them to be from employers, friends, family, and faith-based leaders in the family’s life such as a minister, pastor, rabbi, etc.
The financial records of the family will be assessed, the background checks will also include an FBI fingerprint check to look for any history of violence or neglect. There will also be a discussion regarding the plans for both pre-adoption and post-adoption education and parenting training. All of this information will be reviewed by the social worker and they will approve or deny your application to adopt in Alabama.
3. Expectant Parent Rights per Alabama Adoption Laws
As an expectant parent who is researching an adoption plan, you may be curious about Alabama adoption laws and how they pertain to birth mothers or birth fathers and the baby. According to Adoption.com’s Alabama Adoption Guide, it is “ unlawful for any person or persons, organizations, corporation, partnership, hospital, association, or any agency to advertise verbally, through print, electronic media, or otherwise that they will” help adopt or adopt a child personally unless that person or agency is authorized by the Department of Human Resources. (ALA CODE § 26-10A-36).
As an expectant parent, you may be wondering how you will afford the adoption or carrying your baby to term to place for adoption. According to Alabama adoption laws, hopeful adoptive parents may cover certain costs for the birth mother. These expenses can include medical expenses during the pregnancy, hospital or birthing center stay, and post-birth of the baby. Birth mothers can also get their legal expenses paid for to complete the adoption and have their communication wishes specified – such as having an open, semi-open, or closed adoption in Alabama. Also, the birth mother’s living expenses can be covered by the adoptive parents. These expenses include rent payments, mortgage payments, utilities, groceries and food, maternity clothing, and court-approved, lost wages. The hopeful adoptive parents can continue to pay for these expenses for the birth mother through four to six weeks post-partum.
According to Alabama adoption laws, a putative father, that is a man who assumes to be the father of a child, must be notified of adoption proceedings involving the baby. For the putative father to receive any notification of the adoption process, the expectant dad must register with the Alabama Putative Father Registry before the baby is born or within thirty days after the birth of the baby. If the putative father does not file a notice of intent to claim paternity for the baby by this time according to Alabama adoption laws, the father is considered to have waived his right to parental rights and given consent to the adoption and this can not be revoked.
Once an expectant mother has created an adoption plan for her baby, she will work with her adoption agency to form her birth plan for labor and delivery of her baby. Per Alabama adoption laws, the birth mother can consent to the adoption and sign the adoption consent paperwork at any time before the birth in front of an Alabama probate court judge, or any time after the birth of the baby. The birth father can sign the adoption consent paperwork at any time.
After the adoption consent paperwork is signed, the consent is irrevocable. That time frame depends on when the paperwork was signed. If the paperwork was signed by the birth mother before the birth of the baby, the adoption consent can not be revoked within 5 days of the baby’s birth. If the adoption consent paperwork was signed by the birth mother after the birth of the child, it is irrevocable five days after signing the adoption consent paperwork. On the rare occasion that reason is shown through a filed petition with a court to revoke the adoption consent paperwork, it can be an additional 9 days. The court then would decide what is in the best interest of the baby whether to be reunited with the birth mother. It is rare, but Alabama adoption laws do provide a provision for such a circumstance.
4. Adoption Agencies in Alabama
Finding an adoption agency licensed to work with birth mothers in Alabama who are researching an adoption plan for their baby is a great first step. It helps to understand who is eligible to adopt your baby and what the laws are to protect the birth mother and baby in the process. Now it is time to find an adoption agency to work with you through each step of the adoption process. As the former Executive Director of the Joint Council on International Children’s Services, I was often asked how best to find an ethical and good adoption agency from both expectant parents looking to make an adoption plan for their baby and hopeful adoptive parents. Asking the right questions as you are interviewing adoption agencies, asking questions of other birth parents or adoptive parents in online adoption forums, and doing your research by reading articles like these is a great first step. One example of a great ethical agency that works with birth mothers in Alabama is the Gladney Center for Adoption. Gladney Center for Adoption works with birth parents in Alabama and with families from any state. Their adoption agency is licensed to complete home studies for families residing in Arkansas, Connecticut, Florida, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oklahoma, and Texas, so if you are a hopeful adoptive family and you reside in Alabama you would need to find a licensed home study agency in your state to complete your home study. An agency like Gladney would accept your home study from a licensed social worker at an agency in your state or Alabama.
5. Alabama Adoption Laws and Access to Records
Alabama adoption laws do not just pertain to adoptive families and birth parents during and shortly after the adoption is finalized. The laws in Alabama regarding adoption also pertain to access to adoption records for children and adults who were adopted. There are three parties in what is commonly referred to as the adoption triad. The adoption triad is comprised of the birth parents, adoptive parents, and the child who is adopted. Alabama adoption laws allow access to adoption records to adoptive parents, birth parents, and adoptees 19 years of age and older. The adoption records, according to Alabama adoption laws, may have non-identifying information. This means that any information in the adoption consent paperwork, birth certificate, or other adoption records in a closed adoption would not have any information that would identify the birth mother and/or the birth father. The circumstances where this identifying information can be accessed per Alabama adoption laws is in the case of adults who were adopted, 19 years of age and older who petition the court to disclose identifying information. This would only happen if the birth parent has not already given consent to the adoptive parents or adoption agency or adoption attorney who finalized the adoption to disclose to their birth child. If the birth parent still does not consent to share their identifying information after the adult who was adopted petitions the court, or they have since passed away or can not be found, the court will decide as to whether the adult who was adopted who petitioned the court can have access to their birth parents’ identifying information. The court will decide in the interest and rights of all members of the adoption triad and make a final decision on whether the identifying information can and will be released to the petitioner – the adult who was adopted.
However, the 2000 revision to an Alabama state vital records law allows a birth parent to place any information in the sealed file of the child who was adopted. The birth parent may include information in this file regarding whether or not they wish to be contacted and also they may provide a medical history for themselves for the child.
Any adult who was adopted, 19 years of age and older can obtain their original birth certificate upon written request of the court, according to Alabama adoption laws. This happens in Alabama as a new birth certificate is substituted for the original birth certificate after the adoption in state files. The original birth certificate and evidence of the adoption and potential paternity are placed in a “sealed file” in a closed adoption.
Alabama adoption laws are similar in many states and differ as well in certain ways. Alabama adoption laws are there to protect the interests of all members of the adoption triad: birth parents, adoptive parents, and child. Adoption laws serve most of all to protect the best interests of the child. Alabama adoption laws serve to ensure that all children who are adopted, whether through private domestic infant adoption, international adoption, kinship adoption, or stepparent adoption are placed in a safe, loving forever home. At the end of the day, the love and safety of a family is most important.
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