Adopting a Child in District of Columbia

Any person may petition the D.C. Superior Court to adopt, but a married petitioner's spouse must join the petition (unless the spouse is the child's parent, who only consents). The court has jurisdiction if the petitioner is a legal resident of D.C. or has lived there for the year before filing, the child is in the custody of the District or a licensed D.C. child-placing agency, or the child was born in D.C. For a child under 18, consent is needed from the child if 14 or older, and from both living parents, a court-appointed guardian, or the agency or District after parental rights end. A parent's consent is not needed if the parent cannot be located or abandoned the child and failed to support the child for six months before filing, and the court may proceed without consent it finds withheld against the child's best interest. An agency investigates and reports, and a final decree generally requires the child to have lived with the petitioner for at least six months.

When the petitioner is the spouse or domestic partner of the child's parent and that parent consents or joins the petition, the court must skip the agency investigation, report and interlocutory decree. The other parent still must consent unless the court finds that parent cannot be located, abandoned the child and failed to support the child for six months, or is withholding consent against the child's best interest. Required criminal background checks, including fingerprinting, still apply.