- my iParenting
- quick clicks
- iparenting adoption articles
- iparenting adoption q&a
- message boards
- research baby names
- prepare a birth plan
- content channels
- ip channel rss feeds
- read birth stories
- read parenting stories
- recommended books
- e-newsletters
- safety recalls
- ip diaries
- ip store
- mom of the month
- dad of the month
- editor's letter
- letters to the editor
 |
- e-newsletters
- Sign up to receive our free weekly e-newsletters
- award-winning products
The iParenting Media Awards program helps parents find the best products for their families.
Step by Step
Family Building Through Stepparent Adoption
By Kelly Burgess
Stepparent adoption is the most common form of adoption in the United States. This isn't really surprising when you consider the amount of divorce, remarriage and single parenthood in our culture. In a nutshell, stepparent adoption occurs when one biological parent marries – or remarries – and brings their child into the new marriage as a stepchild. If the stepparent wants to become legally responsible for that child, the parental rights of the non-custodial biological parent are terminated and a stepparent adoption is done through the courts.
Attorney David H. Baum, president of the Academy of California Adoption Lawyers, says that people seek stepparent adoptions for a variety of reasons. "In my practice, most of the people seeking to adopt their stepchild do so because they feel such an affinity for the child that it's very important to them to bond the child to them legally," he says. "The other big reason is that the couple may be going to have a biological child and don't want one child to feel as if he or she is any less a part of the family than the other."
However, that waiver of obligation applies only if child support is not in arrears. Any amount that was owed to the custodial parent prior to the adoption is still owed, according to Tim O'Hanlon, author of Stepparent Adoption: A Resource Book
