Adopting a Child in North Carolina

Any adult may adopt another individual, but spouses may not adopt each other. Before a minor is placed, a written preplacement assessment completed or updated within the prior 18 months must find the prospective parent suitable, except in independent adoptions by certain close relatives (grandparents, siblings, first cousins, aunts, uncles, great-aunts, great-uncles, great-grandparents). Consent is required from a minor 12 or older and, in a direct placement, from the mother, any man who meets the statute's tests for a legal or acknowledged father (such as marriage to the mother, legitimation, or acknowledgment plus support), and any guardian, unless consent is excused under the statute.

A stepparent may petition to adopt a spouse's minor child if the spouse has legal and physical custody and the child has lived primarily with the spouse and stepparent for the six months before filing (other routes apply if the spouse has died or is incompetent, or the court permits for cause). Consent is required from the child if 12 or older, from the child's parents as defined for adoption consent, and from any guardian, unless consent is excused under the statute.