§ 19-8-5.Third party adoption by party who is not stepparent or relative of child

A private adoption — by someone who is neither the child’s stepparent nor a relative described in § 19-8-6 or § 19-8-7 — runs through this section. It works only if each living parent and guardian voluntarily surrenders all rights in writing to that third party so the third party can adopt. From the date a parent surrenders, the third party is financially responsible for the child. And no child may be placed with a third party until a home study is complete and the home study report recommends placing a child in that home, unless the court authorizes otherwise. A child 14 years of age or older must consent in writing in the presence of the court.

The signing rules mirror the agency rules in § 19-8-4. Surrenders by parents, guardians and biological fathers are signed after the birth; a biological father who is not a legal father may instead sign a pre-birth surrender after the mother names him in a sworn statement. Every surrender is signed under oath before a notary public and an adult witness, on the forms in § 19-8-26, with a copy to the signer. To protect privacy, the surrender may leave out the adoptive family’s names and addresses if it names an agent to receive any notice of revocation. The signer may revoke within four days under § 19-8-9. An acknowledgment, a legal mother’s affidavit and an affidavit from a representative of the petitioner or of the signer go with it. A surrender binds a signer who is under 18, a noncitizen or a nonresident.

Timing is tight. The petition must be filed within 60 days from the date the surrender is signed, though the court may waive the 60 day requirement for good cause. If the petition isn’t filed in time and the court doesn’t waive the deadline, or the case ends without an order granting the adoption, the surrender operates according to the choice the parent or guardian made in it: in favor of that parent or guardian; in favor of a designated child-placing agency or out-of-state licensed agency; or, if neither was designated or the agency declines the child, in favor of the department for an agency adoption under § 19-8-4. Even a return to the parent doesn’t reopen the surrender in any other circumstance once the revocation period has passed.

If the home study wasn’t done before placement, the third party must ask the court, in the petition or a separate motion, for an order authorizing placement, naming the chosen evaluator. The court may authorize early placement if it finds placement in the child’s best interests, and may waive the preplacement home study when the child already lives in the home as a resident’s child or under a court order of guardianship, testamentary guardianship or custody. Once early placement is authorized, the child may stay pending further order; the clerk must send the order to the department and the evaluator within 15 days of its entry; and, if the study isn’t already under way, the evaluator must start it within ten days of receiving the order. Last amended in 2021, the section has a contingent version that would take effect only if a 35th state enacts the Interstate Compact for the Placement of Children. The version shown first is in force, and the only change would be subsection (k)’s reference to that compact in Chapter 4A of Title 39.