Adopting a Child in Connecticut

Adoptions are handled by the Probate Court. A child can be given in adoption by a statutory parent (for example, the Department of Children and Families or a child-placing agency after parental rights are terminated) to any adult, with the consent of a child who is 12 or older; a parent may also agree to adoption by a spouse or by one other person who shares parental responsibility, and a guardian may agree to adoption by a relative. The application and written adoption agreement are filed in the Probate Court for the district where the adoptive parent lives. A Probate Court will not accept an application to adopt an unrelated minor unless the child was placed by the Department or a licensed child-placing agency (or the Adoption Review Board waived this), except for stepparent and shared-parenting adoptions. The court asks the Department or an agency for an investigation and written report, due within 60 days, before the hearing.

A parent may agree in writing that his or her spouse will adopt the child, subject to Probate Court approval, if the parent is a surviving parent, an unmarried mother whose child's putative father has had his rights terminated, a single adoptive parent who later married, or the sole guardian of the child after any other parent's rights have been terminated. In practice, this means the other parent's rights must already be ended (for example, by death or a termination case). The court may waive notice to the Department of Children and Families and must waive the investigation and report unless good cause is shown. The court may approve the adoption if it is in the child's best interest; a child over 12 gets notice of the hearing.