Many married couples have children from prior marriages. Often, the stepparent of the children acts as the children’s real parent. Naturally, the Stepparent in this situation frequently would like to make the situation permanent and become the children’s legal parent.
If the children’s birth parent agrees to the adoption it van be all be done by agreement, and the procedure is not lengthy or overly complicated.
If the birth parent does not agree the their rights would have to be terminated before the adoption could occur. To terminate the birth parents rights the adoptive parent’s would have to show that the the birth parent s had legally abandoned the children and that it is in the children’s best interests. Legal abandonment can be for months with no no visitation or four months with no child support payments.