Adoption In Texas

Adoption in Texas is a journey much like the adoption journeys you will see nationally. Yet, Texas, with its uniqueness and charm also has its own set of rules pertaining to adoption. To help the process go more smoothly, it is important to note these differences and find an adoption agency or adoption attorney who knows adoption in Texas well. Knowing the ins and outs of adoptions in Texas as well as your options for how you can adopt in Texas will set you on your journey one step ahead. Beginning the journey knowing what you are facing is always better than going in blind!

Pursuing adoption in Texas will begin with finding an adoption provider in Texas. In the state of Texas, an adoption journey can be facilitated by an adoption agency or adoption attorney. There are many options for adoption professionals to come alongside you in your journey, but it is important to review each adoption professional carefully. You can find a list of agencies and attorneys privy on adoption in Texas here. You can also find more about their purposes, the services they offer, and the successes they have had with past clients. It is also helpful to visit the forums at Adoption.com to gather more information on adoption in Texas. Many members of the community may be able to tell you their experiences, recommend an adoption agency or adoption attorney, and give advice that may aid you in your adoption process.

Each agency or adoption attorney should be able to provide you with a general idea of how adoption in Texas will look based on the type of adoption situation you are pursuing. They should also be able to provide a general fee schedule as well as a general timeline. Many of these things are only general as fees and timelines can vary for each adoption, even though they may be similar. These fees will vary greatly depending on if you are pursuing international, domestic, or foster care adoption. The type of adoption you choose when pursuing adoption in Texas will also largely dictate which agency you choose to facilitate your adoption. The agency or adoption attorney you choose will need to be appraised and licensed for your specific type of adoption. These regulations are put into place to allow adoption professionals to specialize in an adoption type and to help you navigate it in a legal and knowledgeable manner.

Depending on the type of adoption you are pursuing in Texas, the process will vary considerably. For any type of adoption in Texas, your adoption process will start with an adoption professional guiding you through the first crucial steps of your adoption. This will include your FBI background check as well as your adoption home study and adoption education. You will need a background check, home study, and education for domestic, international, and foster care adoption in Texas. Once these first three processes are completed, the process of each type of adoption in Texas may begin to look different.

[dfp_ads id=46]For foster care adoption in Texas, all adoptive parents must be at least 21 years of age. For all other types of adoption, there is no age limit listed in actual legislation, though no adoption professionals will not accept prospective adoptive parents under the age of 18. For domestic adoption in Texas, the home study process will be followed by being matched with a birth mother. For International adoption from Texas, you will proceed with the adoption professional seeking a match with a child in the country from which you are adopting. For foster care adoption, you will typically express interest in adopting a child who is legally free to adopt. Once you have found a child whom you are interested in adopting, the child-placing agency will then begin the process to see if you are a good match, including the possibility of introducing you to the child to see if they also feel comfortable with the adoption. You can find a list of children available for adoption in Texas here.

For domestic adoption in Texas, the process that occurs after you are deemed eligible to adopt from the home study process will vary based on if you have self-matched with a birth mother or will need to be matched by an adoption professional. This wait to be matched can vary in length from a few days to months, and sometimes even years. Much of this is due to the fact that birth mothers are often able to be the ones who choose with whom to place their child. While you can self-match with a birth mother in the state of Texas, this can sometimes be impeded by Texas’s strict laws on advertising for adoption. It is illegal in the state of Texas for prospective adoptive parents to advertise their hopes to adopt a child. However, an adoption agency or adoption professional may do this on their behalf.

For foster care adoption, you will have typically expressed interest in a child eligible for adoption. In this case, once you are deemed eligible to adopt, there will likely be a process dictated by the state agency in Texas. With international adoption from Texas, you will typically finalize your adoption in the child’s home country. The process for domestic adoption in Texas is often a little more involved. Once a match has occurred and a child is born, there are two different waiting periods adoptive parents will undergo. First, a birth mother may not consent to adoption before 48 hours after the child has been born. Once the birth mother does consent to the adoption, the consent is irrevocable in the state of Texas. The second waiting period would be the wait for finalization. Finalization occurs after all post-placement visits have been completed. While the scheduling of the finalization date will be largely up to the court’s availability, adoption finalization in Texas typically occurs at least six months after the child has been placed with the adoptive parents.