Guide to adoptions in California
This guide has general information about the different ways to adopt someone in California. For some types of adoption, there are step-by-step instructions on how to complete the adoption process.
Adoptions
In an adoption, the court establishes a legal parent-child relationship between a child and a parent who is not the child's biological or birth parent
Once the adoption is final, adoptive parents have all the legal rights and responsibilities of a parent-child relationship. That new parent-child relationship is permanent and is exactly the same as that of a birth family.
An adoptive parent can be a stepparent or domestic partner of one of the birth parents, a relative of the child who has been caring for the child, or someone not related to the child by blood.
If the child is 12 years old or older, the child will also have to agree to the adoption.
Adoptions filed in California are confidential
Adoption files are confidential. They are available to the adult adoptee, adoptive parents, and their attorneys. You may file a petition with the court clerk to ask the court for permission to obtain copies from the adoption file. Contact the court where the adoption was granted. Find your court and their contact information.
Different ways to adopt
You will follow a different adoption process based on your situation. The process you will follow depends on your relationship with the child and how they came into (or will come into) your care.
Select a type of adoption to find out more about the process
A spouse or domestic partner of one of the child's birth parents becomes the child's other legal parent. The couple must be legally married or registered as domestic partners.
This is called "stepparent" adoption to confirm parentage. Married parents whose children were conceived through assisted reproduction or born through a gestational surrogacy process may be able to use a simplified adoption process to protect the legal parental rights of a parent who did not give birth to the child.
This type of adoption happens when an adoption agency or Department of Social Services is not part of the adoption case. In these cases, if the existing and adopting parents agree, the parental rights of the existing parents do not have to be terminated
The California Department of Social Services or a licensed adoption agency is part of the adoption case. The court ends the parental rights of the child’s two birth parents, and the adoptive parents become the children’s legal parents.
Find out more about the process in How to Adopt a Child in California (form ADOPT-050-INFO).
In this adoption, the child to be adopted was born in another country. The court ends the parental rights of the child’s two birth parents, and the adoptive parents become the children’s legal parents.
You must follow this process to adopt the child under California law, even if the adoption was finalized in another country. If the adoption was finalized in another country, you must file the Adoption Request within 60 days of the child's entry to the United States or the child's 16th birthday, whichever is earlier.
Find out more about the process in How to Adopt a Child in California (form ADOPT-050-INFO).
Adopting someone that is 18 or older.