If a child has been made ward of court ,do i have any rights to adopt this child ,i am a very close friend of

Question

o f the family and they are more than happy for me to adopt this child,does know if i can as i am not blood relation

Answer 1

Actually I went through this and adopted my daughter, she was a ward of the state. Get a good lawyer right away. (If you can't afford a lawyer then you can't afford the child)   In the state of Ohio you can become a temporary guardian almost right away if you have a good lawyer and you are a relative or very close to the family. You will have to undergo a background check and home visits by social workers.   You may be required by several states to become a legal foster parent while you have the child under temporary guardianship.  Once you live under temporary guardianship for several months you can apply for permanent guardianship then after a year of this you can apply for legal adoption.   I spent about $5,000 over the course of several years to adopt my daughter. It was relatively cheap because she was 12 and able to stand before the judge and say she wanted to live with us.  Good luck

Answer 2

If the parents rights have already been terminated, chances are they have already identified parents for the child.  Or the child may be in a foster to adopt home and already bonded with a family.  But if the parents rights have not yet been terminated, you may still be able to inform the agency of your interest in the child.

They may or may not be interested in speaking with or considering you.  Many times the system is kind of "closed" to outside interest, with the state figuring that the whole system which led to the dysfunction of the family may be dysfunctional, so why place the child close to it?

Have one of the parents call their Caseworker and tell them there is a family interested in adopting the child.  Or, if he/she will give you permission to call the Caseworker, they MAY talk with you.  If they will consider you, you may have to get a private homestudy and attorney just like any adoptive parents.  They will let you know.

However, if this family is "more than happy" for you to adopt this child, meaning they want you to so they can have contact with the child, reconsider!  The state will be monitoring this placement and that would not be a good idea at all.  It takes a LOT for the state to terminate parental right nowadays, and the apple does not fall far from the tree.  Maybe this child NEEDS a new tree.

Good luck!

Answer 3

A child that is in custody is not always adoptable.  If the child is put up for adoption, the court will decide who is best able to parent the child-the parents have no say (whether it is a relative or not).

Normally, I believe that the child would be adopted by someone who has already met the requirements (home study, criminal record check, medical check, etc.).  And, unless it is a relative seeking to adopt the child-it would probably be determined that it is not in the best interest of the child to be adopted by a "very close friend of the family" since the child was obviously removed for some cause such as neglect or abuse.

You certainly have the right to try if the child does become adoptable, but again-the court will decide if it is in the best interest of the child.  The parents would have no say in determining who the child went to.

Answer 4

First the biological parents would have to give up their parental rights to the child. Then the court would look at you as a prospective parent, so long as you've expressed interest with child services and have an attorney, and are financially secure to care for the child.

Answer 5

If you're in the UK then I'm pretty sure you have to be a close blood relative such as uncle, auntie, cousin, etc. My uncle is going through the same thing with his little boy - he is a ward of court and we looked into one of us adopting him and found out it had to be a close blood relative but the caseworker will be able to tell you. Perhaps your circumstances are different.

Answer 6

In most cases, relatives would get the first chance.  Whomever adopts the child will be investigated--criminal background check, financial check, etc., etc., etc.  (Of course it would be important to them to know that you would have enough time to devote to the child--and not leave him/her with others too often).

The final decision, of course, will be up to the court (Judge).  If the child is old enough to choose a preference, the court will usually take that into consideration.

Good luck, and I do agree with the answerer who said that you should contact a lawyer asap.

Answer 7

Normally when a child has become a ward of the state, the state has exhausted all means to get family members to take the child. What will happen is the child will be put in a home and is pretty much up for adoption at that point. The parents have no legal rights to the child once he/she has become a ward of the state. I was 16 when I became a ward of the state, and trust me the quicker you act on adopting him/her the better his/her life will be. Contact your local child welfare agency about locating the child and get yourself a lawyer. If you can prove you will be a good parent (i.e., job, transportation, clean home, etc,..). They will send out social workers to check on you quite regularly. Good luck and best wishes to you.

Answer 8

Most of the time a court will try to place a child with family first. However you should let the social workers and the foster workers know that you have an interest in taking care of the child. They will be able to let you know if you would be able to adopt the child or not. Good luck

Answer 9

You can look it up in books on family law,but in my opinion if social services know that you are a close friend of the family and/or have had links to that child in the past, then im sorry to say that the answer would be no you could not adopt the said child.

Answer 10

You can always ask the child's social worker.  If the child knows you, it would certainly give you a leg up, but they may be worried about how the situation would be handled between you and the parents.  You don't really have a right to adopt the child, but you can certainly apply, I have to imagine that a knowledge of the family has to be a plus.  Also, have parental rights been terminated?  If not, you can ask the parents about a private adoption.  They'd of course have to have permission from the courts, as they can't make decisions for the child without consulting the judge who is handling the case, but if everyone is favor it could go quite well for you.

Answer 11

You should contact your local child welfare organization (look in the blue pages of your phone book or go online & search your state name and "foster care"...you'll find the agency that you'll want to talk to).

Once you get the number, give them a call & explain the situation.  Let them know that you'd like to be licensed to become foster/adoptive parents with an eye toward taking this child into your home.

In general, they'd like to keep the child with relatives, friends or others they know so that the child has as much familiar to them as possible while providing them a safe environment.

I hope you get in touch with them soon and that they help you along the way toward bringing the child into your home.

Generally, there will be a training class (ours was ten weeks long, once a week), background checks, a home visit & just stuff like that.  It's nothing terribly complicated or difficult.  They just want to make sure that children are going into homes where they'll be safe and nurtured.

Answer 12

Get a lawyer ASAP. The fact that you are well known to the child can work for or against you, they could place the child with you so that he is in a familiar environment, but they could not place the child with you if they removed him from the home in order to limit contact with the parents......living with you would place the child in contact with the parents and that might not be what they want, depending on why the child became a ward of the state in the first place.

The process varies depending on the state, but contact the court and they can tell you exactly who to call. A laywer will definitely be very helpful though.