Adopting a Child in West Virginia

An unmarried person, a married person with the spouse's consent, or a married couple jointly may petition the circuit court of the county where they live. Consent or relinquishment is generally required from the parents of a child born during marriage, the birth mother and the determined father of a nonmarital child, and a child 12 or older (given before a judge). Consent is not needed from a parent whose rights were terminated or who abandoned the child; abandonment of a child over six months old is presumed when a parent, for six months before the petition, failed to support the child within their means and failed to visit or communicate when able. The adoption may be decreed no sooner than six months after the child has lived continuously in the petitioner's home, and unless the court directs otherwise a discreet inquiry (home study) is made into whether the home is suitable.

In a stepparent adoption, the child's parent who is married to the petitioning stepparent does not give a separate consent but must join the petition as a party. The other parent's consent or relinquishment is required unless that parent's rights were terminated or the court finds abandonment (for example, six months without support and without visits or communication when able).