Who has Custody of the Adoptee during the Adoption Process?

Posted on August 28, 2009 by Russell W. Hall III

Section 63-9-510 of the South Carolina Code of Laws provides that the adoptive parents have temporary custody of the adoptee once they receive the adoptee into their home and a petition for adoption has been filed.

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Step-Parent Adoption

Posted on August 13, 2009 by Russell W. Hall III

Four requirements of third-party adoptions are eliminated or waived by Section 63-9-1110 of South Carolina Code of Laws for step-parent adoptions; these eliminations and waivers are subject to the discretion of the court.

  1. Unlike third-party adoptions, step-parent adoptions require no investigation or report on the adoptive parent nor background reports on the biological parents. This greatly reduces the time and money spent on the adoption.
  2. The requirement of an accounting of all money spent on the adoption is eliminated.
  3. The court may waive the requirement that the final hearing must not be held before ninety days after the filing of the adoption petition. Waiving  this ninety day waiting period obviously moves the adoption process forward more quickly.
  4. The court may also waive the appointment of independent counsel for an indigent parent. This waiver also reduces the time spent on the adoption process.

 

 

 

 

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Two Common Grounds for Termination of Parental Rights

Posted on August 1, 2009 by Russell W. Hall III

Termination of parental rights (TPR) is the process by which all future rights and responsiblities of the biological parents are terminated.

South Carolina Code lists eleven grounds for the termination of parental rights.

Two of the more frequently used grounds for the terminatin of parental rights in a private adoption action are:

  1. The child has lived outside the home of either parent for a period of six months, and during that time the parent has wilfully failed to visit the child. The court may attach little or no weight to incidental visitations, but it must be shown that the parent was not prevented from visiting by the party having custody or by court order. The distance of the child's placement from the parent's home must be taken into consideration when determining the ability to visit, and;
  2. The child has lived outside the home of either parent for a period of six months, and during that time the parent has wilfully failed to support the child. Failure to support means that the parent has failed to make a material contribution to the child's care. A material contribution consists of either financial contributions according to the parent's means or contributions of food, clothing, shelter, or other necessities for the care of the child according to the parent's means. The court may consider all relevant circumstances in determining whether or not the parent has wilfully failed to support the child, including requests for support by the custodian and the ability of the parent to provide support.

These two ground are independent of one another and only one needs to be shown for the judge to grant the termination of the parent's rights.

The judge has a great deal of discretion; even though you may be able to show that the biological parent has wilfully failed to visit or support the child, the judge may determine after reviewing all the facts that it is not in the best interest of the child to terminate the parent's rights.

 

 

 

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