§ 19-8-28.Adoption of an orphan
Chapter 8. Adoption · Article 1. General Provisions · Last amended 2018 · Last verified October 9, 2026
Full Text of § 19-8-28
Plain-English Summary
Most Georgia adoptions rest on surrenders. In a third-party or relative adoption, each living parent and guardian of the child must surrender his or her rights in writing (§§ 19-8-5 and 19-8-7). That raised a practical question for orphans: when no parent is alive, did the family first have to get a guardian appointed, only so that guardian could sign a surrender? This section, added in 2018, answers no.
It does two things. First, a petitioner adopting an orphan isn’t required to have a guardian appointed for the child in order for a guardian to execute a surrender. Second, the child is adoptable without a surrender of rights. The section doesn’t define “orphan,” and the definitions in § 19-8-1 don’t either.
The rest of the adoption still applies. The petition must be supported by certificates or forms verifying its allegations, and § 19-8-13 lists among them proof of the death of each parent in place of that parent’s surrender. The court must still be satisfied that the adoption is in the child’s best interests before it grants a decree under § 19-8-18.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to become an orphan’s guardian before I can adopt the child in Georgia?
No. This section says the petitioner shall not be required to have a guardian appointed for an orphan in order for a guardian to sign a surrender of rights. The child is adoptable without a surrender. You still file a petition for adoption, and the court still decides whether the adoption serves the child’s best interests.
Who signs the surrender when both of a child’s parents have died?
Under this section, no one has to. An orphan is adoptable without a surrender of rights. Instead of a parent’s surrender, the petition is supported by documents verifying the death of each parent, which § 19-8-13 lists among the certificates or forms that go with an adoption petition.
Does this section define who counts as an orphan?
No. The section uses the word without defining it, and the list of definitions for the adoption article in § 19-8-1 doesn’t define it either. In ordinary use it means a child whose parents have both died, and the certificates or forms verifying each parent’s death that § 19-8-13 calls for are how a petition shows that. Whether a particular child qualifies is for the court to decide.
What if the orphan already has a court-appointed guardian?
This section doesn’t speak to that case directly. Its second sentence says an orphan is adoptable without a surrender of rights, without an exception for an existing guardian. But §§ 19-8-5 and 19-8-7 require each living parent and guardian to surrender in third-party and relative adoptions. How the two fit when a guardian is already in place is a question for the court hearing the adoption.
When did Georgia’s orphan adoption rule take effect?
This section took effect September 1, 2018. Since then, a petitioner adopting an orphan hasn’t been required to have a guardian appointed just so the guardian can execute a surrender of rights. The orphan is adoptable without a surrender, though the court must still find the adoption is in the child’s best interests under § 19-8-18.
Amendment History
Laws 2018, Act 285, § 1-1, eff. Sept. 1, 2018.