Adopting a Child in Tennessee

Any person over 18 may petition the chancery or circuit court to adopt, and a living, competent spouse must join the petition. Petitioners generally must live in Tennessee when the petition is filed (with exceptions for certain nonresidents and active-duty service members) and must have physical custody of the child or the right to receive it. The rights of each legal parent, guardian or putative father must be surrendered, consented, waived or terminated before adoption; grounds for termination include abandonment, defined as failure to visit or support for four consecutive months before filing (three months if the child is under four). Petitioners must obtain a home study or preliminary home study from a licensed child-placing agency, licensed clinical social worker or the Department of Children's Services, though the court may waive it for adoption by related persons.

When the petitioner's spouse is the child's legal or biological parent, the spouse signs the petition as co-petitioner; that counts as the parent's consent, no surrender is needed from that parent, and the parent's own legal relationship with the child is unaffected. The other parent's rights must still be surrendered, consented, waived or terminated (for example for abandonment). The court may waive the home study for adoption by related persons.