During the recent Georgia legislative session, the Georgia legislature passed HB 154 which makes some changes to the Georgia Adoption Code (“Code”). The changes will be effective starting July 1, 2021. Whether you are a biological parent, prospective adoptive parent or attorney, there are some changes that you should be aware of that will impact the adoption process.
While only the eighth most populous state in the United States, Georgia has the second highest rate of babies abandoned by their mothers and has the largest number of babies on the East Coast abandoned in just their first few days of life.
Recently, this alarming epidemic drew national attention with the story of Baby India, a newborn who was found clinging to life, bloody and with her umbilical cord still attached, in a plastic bag near a wooded area in Forsyth County, Georgia. A local family heard Baby India’s cries and came to her rescue. Thankfully, experts, media commentators, and advocates are hearing the cries of babies like India and hoping to point mothers to Georgia’s Safe Haven Law.
The Georgia Adoption Reunion Registry is maintained by the Division of Family and Children Services (“DFCS”) to organize and provide information to connect adopted individuals and their families. As DFCS states on the Reunion Registry website, “adoptees, birth parents, or siblings who have been permanently separated through adoption often reach a time in their lives when they want more information about their biological family. This ‘need to know’ may be due to medical, genetic, genealogical, or personal reasons.”
The Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children (“ICPC” or the “Compact”) is a statutory agreement between all 50 states and the District of Columbia which regulates and ensures uniformity in the process of placing children living in one state into another state. Since the 1950s, the ICPC has been adopted in every U.S. jurisdiction, including the State of Georgia. Before the law became universally adopted, each individual state’s ability to ensure the best interests of a child adopted beyond its borders was geographically limited. A patchwork of conflicting rules and regulations prevented a state from having any oversight of how a child’s well-being was provided for once the child was sent beyond the state’s borders. This was a double-edged sword for states, which could neither help children placed in bad adoption situations or get children into good out-of-state homes.
Congratulations on the finalization of the adoption of your minor child. While it likely was a long arduous process, be careful not to relax too much now that you have finalized your adoption. There still remains at least one more item on your post adoption check list to cover, and that is obtaining a new Social Security Number for your child.
The purpose of National Adoption Month is to have a month that is dedicated to raising awareness of the children and youth in foster care as well as, the need for adoptive families for them. Also, during this month it is important to encourage people to learn more about adoption, recognize people who have been impacted by adoption and organize positive adoption related events.
While all adoption related issues are significant, the particular focus the month of November is Foster Care Adoption. The State of Georgia has approximately 13,718 children in foster care as of May 2019. Below is a graph that denotes the demographics of the children in foster care.
While only the eighth most populous state in the United States, Georgia has the second highest rate of babies abandoned by their mothers and has the largest number of babies on the East Coast abandoned in just their first few days of life.
Recently, this alarming epidemic drew national attention with the story of Baby India, a newborn who was found clinging to life, bloody and with her umbilical cord still attached, in a plastic bag near a wooded area in Forsyth County, Georgia. A local family heard Baby India’s cries and came to her rescue. Thankfully, experts, media commentators, and advocates are hearing the cries of babies like India and hoping to point mothers to Georgia’s Safe Haven Law.
The Georgia Adoption Reunion Registry is maintained by the Division of Family and Children Services (“DFCS”) to organize and provide information to connect adopted individuals and their families. As DFCS states on the Reunion Registry website, “adoptees, birth parents, or siblings who have been permanently separated through adoption often reach a time in their lives when they want more information about their biological family. This ‘need to know’ may be due to medical, genetic, genealogical, or personal reasons.”
The Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children (“ICPC” or the “Compact”) is a statutory agreement between all 50 states and the District of Columbia which regulates and ensures uniformity in the process of placing children living in one state into another state. Since the 1950s, the ICPC has been adopted in every U.S. jurisdiction, including the State of Georgia. Before the law became universally adopted, each individual state’s ability to ensure the best interests of a child adopted beyond its borders was geographically limited. A patchwork of conflicting rules and regulations prevented a state from having any oversight of how a child’s well-being was provided for once the child was sent beyond the state’s borders. This was a double-edged sword for states, which could neither help children placed in bad adoption situations or get children into good out-of-state homes.
Georgia adoption laws underwent the first significant overhaul in approximately 28 years in September 2018, resulting in changes aimed at making the adoption process more efficient for hopeful parents. However, adoption still requires a comprehensive review of prospective adoptive parents, their homes, their families, and their day-to-day lives so that the courts can determine if the home is the right fit for a child.
According to the 2010 U.S. Census, more than 224,000 children in Georgia live in the homes of their grandparents, and more than 116,000 of those children live in homes where their grandparents are solely responsible for them. More than 40 percent of those kids have neither of their parents living with them.
There are many blended families composed of children from prior marriages and relationships. Has the thought crossed your mind about whether to pursue a stepparent adoption? A stepparent adoption is where the child’s custodial parent consents to the child being adopted by the new spouse. Once the adoption is finalized the custodial parent and stepparent will equally be the legal parents of the child.
Often, when people think of adoption, they tend to think of only minor children under the age of 18. However, in Georgia, not only minors may be adopted, but adults may be adopted as well. Adults choose to be adopted for varying reasons, to include the following:
No matter how old you are, the desire is never lost for family. Many adults also pursue adult adoptions to remove the stigma of not having a family and of not having a feeling of permanence.
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