Pact, An Adoption Alliance - Adoption Laws

Adoption Laws - California

Procedures:

The choice of adoptive parents must be made only by the birth mother or birth parents.
If the child is to be born outside of California, the adoptive parents can satisfy interstate requirements by having a home study completed prior to the birth of the child.
The attorney appointed by the adoptive parents will coordinate the interstate compact work with the birth parents' attorney.

Expenses:

For California birth parents, adoptive parents may pay only "the maternity-connected medical or hospital and necessary living expenses of the mother preceding and during confinement" (Penal Code Section 273). This permits them to pay medical costs; reasonable living expenses; counseling fees; legal costs; and travel expenses. At finalization, adoptive parents will have to file a detailed accounting of all their expenses, including all payments or promises of payments to birth parents. (Civil Code Section 224r). For out of state birth parents, payment of expenses must comply with the laws both of the birth mother's state and of California.
The payment of costs by the adopting parents is a gift. The birth parents are not required to pay them back, even if the adoption is not completed. However, it is fraud and a crime to accept money if the birth parent does not intend to complete the adoption. (Penal Code Section 273b).

Birth father's rights:

The Uniform Parentage Act, California Civil Code sections 7000-7021, separates birth fathers into two legal categories: "alleged" fathers and "presumed" fathers. The rights of the biological father depend upon his position according to these legal definitions.
- A man is a presumed father if he was married to the birth mother at the time of birth or within 300 days before the baby's birth. Thus, a recently-divorced or deceased husband is a presumed father.
- A man is also a presumed father if he marries the birth mother after the birth.
- He will be a presumed father if he either is named on the birth certificate with his consent or is obligated to pay support under a voluntary promise or court order.
- A man can become a presumed father without marrying the birth mother by receiving the child into his home and declaring that the child is his biological child.
- One of the unusual results of the Uniform Parentage Act is that a man who is not the biological father of the child may be legally designated the presumed father. This happens most frequently when a woman becomes pregnant while separated from her husband but whose marriage to him was not legally terminated within three hundred days before the child's birth. All other men who claim to be the child's father, or who are named by the birth mother as the father or as a possible father, are alleged fathers.
Rights of presumed fathers: The presumed father's consent is necessary for an adoption. If he is not the biological father, his consent may not be required, although he still must be notified of the court hearing that will determine that he is not the biological father. If his whereabouts are unknown, a diligent effort must be made to find him. If he is not found, his rights can be terminated for abandonment.
Rights of alleged fathers: To gain any right to custody of the child or to block the adoption, the alleged father must file a legal action establishing his paternity. His consent to the adoption is not required.