Adoption in Pennsylvania

Adoption is a statutory legal action extinguishing the previous parent-child relationship and establishing a new parent-child relationship.

•  Once the adoption is finalized, the child receives a new birth certificate and the original records are sealed; (however, the adopted children can have access to medical and social information about their birth parents).
  • There are numerous procedural and substantive requirements to ensure due process for biological parents and to prevent “baby selling” and other exploitative conduct.
  • Payment for cost associated with pregnancy is usually permitted, (but baby selling is not permitted), and
  • Adoptions can occur through agencies (public and private) or through private arrangements.

Legal Effects of Adoption:

• (1) Generally, once an adoption takes place, the adoptive parents assume all of the parental rights and responsibilities of a biological parent, and the adopted child has reciprocal rights and responsibilities to the new parents, and
  • (2) With the parties’ consent and the court’s approval, an adoptive parent and a birth relative of the child may enter into a written agreement providing for continuing contact between the child and the birth relative, or between the adoptive parent and the birth relative.  If the child is at least 12 years old, the child’s consent is also required.

Termination of Parental Rights:

For an adoption to be valid, the legal rights of the biological parents must first be terminated. Termination of Parental Rights can occur voluntarily or involuntarily.

• Voluntary Termination of Parental Rights:
  • (1) Voluntary Termination of Parental Rights involves a surrender of the birth parents’ rights (and consent to the adoption by the adoptive parents), and
  • (2) Procedural protections are imposed to ensure voluntariness and notice to putative fathers, (i.e., anyone, who by law is identified as a potential father has to be notified before an adoption can take place).

• Involuntary Termination of Parental Rights:

A petition for termination of parental rights may be filed in the following situations:

•  (1)A petition for termination of parental rights can be filed within 6 months of parental noncompliance to a court order.
  •  (2)The child lacks parental care because of incapacity, abuse, or neglect of the parents.
  •  (3) The putative father fails to legitimate the child.
  •  (4) Abandonment despite a diligent search: a petition for termination of parental rights can be filed within 3 months of the abandonment.
  •  (5)if you have a child who has been removed from their parents because of abuse or neglect, and that abuse or neglect has not been cured within 6 months, and there is no reasonable prospect of it being cured, then a petition for termination of parental rights can be filed.
  •  (6) Abandonment of a newborn:  a petition for termination of parental rights can be filed within 6 months of the abandonment of a newborn.
  •  (7)if a father committed rape or incest in conceiving a child, then a petition for termination of parental rights can be filed, and
  •  (8)if a parent is convicted of his child homicide or aggravated assault, then a petition for termination of parental rights can be filed. 

The court shall give primary consideration to the developmental, physical, and emotional needs and welfare of the child, (i.e., the termination must be in the best interest of the child).

Parental rights shall not be terminated solely on the basis of environmental factors if they are found to be beyond the parent’s control, such as inadequate housing, furnishings, income, clothing, and medical care.

Procedure for Termination of parental rights:

Termination of parental rights is an extreme remedy, and it involves two steps:

• (1) The petitioner must prove at least one statutory grounds by clear and convincing evidence; and
  •  (2) The petitioner must demonstrate that termination of parental rights is in the best interest of the child.

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