Adoption in the family law arena generally comes into consideration when there are children from a previous relationship to one of the parties. Sometimes, the other parent of those children has not fostered a relationship with the child and has no interest in doing so. When the residential parent forms a new relationship and the child is accepted wholeheartedly into that person’s life couple I seek to adopt the child into the new family unit. This often occurs when there is a new baby born to that relationship. If the non-residential parent agrees to the adoption then the non-residential parent loses all rights and obligations as a parent. This would extend to non-payment of child support. The new parent becomes the child’s parent in every sense. Even on a breakdown of marriage.
Although a relatively straightforward procedure. It must be demonstrated to the court that the adoption is in the child’s best interests and that the parent relinquishing their parental rights is well aware of the ramifications of an adoption.