Adoption In Louisiana

By Katie Penny

Can you give some basic information on adoption in Louisiana?

There are three varieties of adoption for minor children in Louisiana: 1) agency adoption, 2) private adoption, and 3) intra-family adoption.

An agency adoption is an adoption which takes place when a child is placed by the Department of Social Services or a private, but licensed, adoptive agency. In a private adoption, no agencies are involved, but the parties, rather, agree to the adoption. An intra-family adoption is a kind of sub-species of a private adoption, in which the child is adopted by certain family members.

For all kinds of adoption, usually at least one of the parents is losing their parental rights. In our country, we actually consider the right of a parent to his or her child as one of the most important rights one can have, and the law takes removal of those rights very seriously.

Adoption, by definition, means taking away the rights of a biological parent and giving those rights to a non-biological parent, and that process is understandably one that the courts try very hard to safeguard. The biological parent, even if absent or awful, must be notified at the very least, and usually their consent to the adoption (in an Act of Surrender) is required. This means the consent of the mother of the child, and the consent of the father (usually, and who is meant by the “father” can vary).

To even give up his or her parental rights, the parent must go through mental health counseling (the father can waive his counseling; the mother cannot) and, in a private adoption, legal counseling as well.

The actual Act of Surrender has to be in a particular form, and, in order to protect mothers from aggressive couples trying to get the mother to give up her child, or to protect mothers who want to give up their children before they are born, but might change their minds later, the mother cannot give up her rights until the baby is at least 5 days old. The father can Surrender his rights earlier than the mother, but he can change his mind about his decision to give up his rights all the way up until five days after the birth. At that point, his decision to give up his rights becomes irrevocable. (Under certain circumstances, a parent can surrender their parental rights in open court.)

These requirements might seem excessive and complicated, but, really, in light of the irrevocability and finality of Surrendering these very important parental rights, it is reasonable that the courts should want to give parents every change to make sure they are making the right decision.

A parent’s rights may be taken away by the court (rather than the parent giving up the rights on their own) if the parent is convicted of the murder or unjustified killing of the other parent, if there is extreme abuse or mistreatment of the child or any other child of that parent, or abandonment of the child in such a way that it shows that the parent is trying to avoid supporting the child. Also, if the child has been removed from the custody of the parent by court order for at least a year, the court may terminate the parental rights.

Agency and private adoptions are really rather complicated to address here, and the procedures are very technical. However, it would be good to point out that foster children (when the court has taken the children away from abusive or unfit parents) may be adopted after a period of time being fostered and after the adoptive procedures are followed, and also to point out that the state is in desperate need of wonderful foster parents for the many foster children relying on the State. (If you are interested in providing a foster home for a child, feel free to contact the Office of Child Services in your parish, or the Foster Care program in your area!)

However, intra-family adoptions are very common and very intriguing, and I will address them in the next issue. The intra-family adoption was designed for the situation of a step-parent desiring to adopt their step-child, usually when the biological parent has died or is willing to give up all parental rights. An intra-family adoption is the only kind of adoption in which all previous parental rights need not be terminated---the living biological parent retains their parental rights. However, the intra-family adoption procedure may be utilized by several other relatives wishing to adopt. Further information will follow in the next issue.

The provided information is fact-sensitive and jurisdiction-dependent. Consult an attorney before employing the above legal concepts.