Checklist · Family Law

Completing a Domestic Adoption: A Practical Checklist

25 U.S.C. § 1912(a)

Type
Checklist
Jurisdiction
National
Date
2024-09-27
Topic
Family Law

A step-by-step operational checklist for completing a domestic infant or child adoption from intake through the decree and the tasks that follow it. Ten phases cover client intake and conflict screening, the home study, matching and pre-placement diligence, the birth father investigation and registry search, the ICWA inquiry, consent execution and the revocation period, ICPC clearance for interstate placements, placement and post-placement supervision, the petition and finalization hearing, and the post-decree items that are routinely forgotten. Each phase carries a commentary explaining why the step matters and the specific traps that void adoptions or delay them by months. The checklist is written for counsel representing adoptive parents but flags where the analysis differs for birth parent and agency counsel. A worked example follows a single interstate infant placement through every phase.

Completing a Domestic Adoption: A Practical Checklist

Family Law > Adoption and Assisted Reproduction | Published 27 September 2024 - Updated 3 July 2026 | UpLaw - uplaw.us

In brief. Adoptions rarely fail on the merits. They fail because a father was never searched for, because nobody asked about tribal heritage, because a family flew home before ICPC approval, or because a consent was taken four hours after delivery in a state requiring seventy-two. Work the phases in order, document every inquiry, and get the judgment.

Keywords: home study, consent, revocation, putative father registry, diligent search, ICWA, ICPC, placement, supervision, petition, decree, readoption

How to use this. Phases 1–5 run before placement and carry nearly all the risk. Phases 6–8 are process. Phases 9–10 are the decree and the tasks after it. The doctrine behind each step is in Adoption and Assisted Reproduction: A Comprehensive Guide to Parentage, Consent, and Interstate Placement. The constitutional and policy background is in Who Is a Parent? Adoption, Surrogacy, and the Law's Slow Catch-Up.

A standing caution. Every timing rule below varies by state, and in an interstate matter two states' rules apply at once. Verify both. Never rely on a form or a timeline from a prior matter in a different state.

Phase 1 — Intake, Engagement, and Conflicts

  • [ ] Identify whom you represent — adoptive parents, birth parents, or the agency. Not more than one.
  • [ ] Run the conflicts check against all parties, including the birth father if known and the agency.
  • [ ] Confirm whether the state permits independent (non-agency) placement, and whether facilitators are lawful.
  • [ ] Determine the type of adoption: agency, independent, stepparent, relative, foster-to-adopt, second-parent, or adult.
  • [ ] Identify the states involved — birth mother's residence, expected place of birth, adoptive parents' residence — and retain local counsel in each.
  • [ ] Engagement letter: scope, fee, and an express written statement of the four risks — the revocation period, the birth father, ICWA, and the ICPC delay.
  • [ ] Confirm the residency and jurisdictional requirements of the court where the petition will be filed.
  • [ ] Calendar the state's statutory deadlines now: consent timing, registry period, supervision period, accounting due date.

Why it matters, and the traps. The single most common ethics failure in adoption practice is representing both sides. It feels efficient — everyone agrees, the birth mother has no money, and one lawyer could handle it — and it is prohibited or heavily restricted almost everywhere, because the moment the birth mother wavers the conflict is total. The second trap is the engagement letter that promises an outcome. Adoptive parents who are told in writing on day one that a birth mother may revoke, and who learn on day forty that she has, are devastated; adoptive parents who were never told are devastated and have a malpractice claim. Write it down. See Legal Ethics and Professional Responsibility: A Comprehensive Guide to the Model Rules.

Phase 2 — The Home Study

  • [ ] Engage a licensed agency or approved evaluator in the adoptive parents' state.
  • [ ] Assemble: criminal background checks including fingerprint-based checks where required; child abuse and neglect registry checks for every state of residence in the past five years; birth and marriage certificates; divorce decrees; financial statements and tax returns; physician's health statements; references; and pet vaccination records where required.
  • [ ] Schedule interviews with every household member, including adult children and other residents.
  • [ ] Complete the home safety inspection — smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, water temperature, firearm storage, medication and chemical storage, pool fencing, and square footage or bedroom requirements.
  • [ ] Complete required pre-adoption training hours.
  • [ ] Confirm the study's validity period and calendar the update.
  • [ ] If an interstate placement is possible, confirm the study meets the receiving state's requirements, not merely the home state's.

Why it matters, and the traps. The home study is the gate; nothing moves before it. Two traps recur. First, an expired study — most are valid one year, matches take longer than expected, and an expired study stops an ICPC packet cold and can cost six weeks. Second, an out-of-state mismatch: a study that satisfies the home state may lack a document the receiving state requires, and the packet is returned. Ask the receiving state's compact office what they want before submitting. Third, and quieter: applicants who omit an old arrest or a prior removal from a household. It will surface, and the omission is more damaging than the fact.

Phase 3 — Matching and Pre-Placement Diligence

  • [ ] Obtain the birth mother's medical and social history, including prenatal care, substance exposure, and family medical history.
  • [ ] Obtain the birth father's identity, history, and whereabouts to the extent known.
  • [ ] Confirm whether the birth mother is married or was married within the statutory presumption window — if so, the husband is a presumed father whose consent or termination is required, regardless of biology.
  • [ ] Document the expenses requested and confirm each falls within the state's permitted categories.
  • [ ] Establish the escrow or trust account for permitted expenses and the accounting method.
  • [ ] Confirm the birth mother has or has declined independent counsel, and that the declination is documented.
  • [ ] Arrange counseling for the birth parents where required or advisable.
  • [ ] Confirm the hospital plan — who is present, who signs what, the newborn's discharge, and the hospital's own policies.
  • [ ] Discuss and document the intended post-adoption contact arrangement.

Why it matters, and the traps. The presumed-husband problem is the one that surprises people. A birth mother who has been separated for four years but never divorced has a husband who is the child's legal father in most states, and his consent or a termination is required no matter what the DNA says. Find out early. On expenses: every state has a list, the list is shorter than families expect, and payments outside it are a crime in many states and a ground to void the consent everywhere. Rent and maternity clothing are usually fine; a car is not. Put every dollar through the escrow account with a receipt, because you will file an accounting.

Phase 4 — The Birth Father Investigation

  • [ ] Identify every possible father by inquiry of the birth mother, in writing, with her signed statement.
  • [ ] Search the putative father registry in every state where conception may have occurred and where the birth mother resided during the pregnancy. Registries are not cross-searchable.
  • [ ] Retain the written search results from each registry, including negative results, for filing.
  • [ ] Where a father is known, give actual notice by personal service or the statutory alternative, whether or not the state technically requires it.
  • [ ] Where a father is unknown or unlocatable, conduct and document a diligent search — last known address, employer, relatives, social media, incarceration records, military status verification under the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, and skip trace.
  • [ ] Move for service by publication where permitted and required, and observe the publication period.
  • [ ] Obtain the father's consent or a denial of paternity and waiver, or prosecute a termination on statutory grounds.
  • [ ] Calculate and calendar the registry deadline and the notice period precisely.

Why it matters, and the traps. This phase is where adoptions get vacated years later, and the reason is Lehr v. Robertson, 463 U.S. 248 (1983): a biological father who grasps the opportunity and accepts responsibility acquires protected rights, and one who does nothing may be foreclosed by a registry he never used. The trap is treating the registry as the whole analysis. It is not. If the father's identity and whereabouts are known, most states require actual notice regardless of registration, and a court will not be impressed by an adoption that relied on a technicality to avoid telling a man he had a child. The second trap is geography: a couple conceives in one state and the mother relocates to give birth. Search both. The third is the SCRA — a default against a servicemember without the required affidavit is voidable, and military fathers are not rare.

Phase 5 — The ICWA Inquiry

  • [ ] Ask every birth parent, in writing, whether the child is or may be a member of, or eligible for membership in, a federally recognized tribe, or whether either parent is.
  • [ ] Record the question and the answer verbatim, signed and dated.
  • [ ] If there is any reason to know the child is an Indian child, send notice by registered mail, return receipt requested, to the parent, any Indian custodian, and each potentially applicable tribe, and to the Bureau of Indian Affairs regional office where the tribe is unknown. 25 U.S.C. § 1912(a).
  • [ ] Allow the statutory response period plus the 20 additional days the tribe may request.
  • [ ] File the return receipts and any tribal responses with the court.
  • [ ] If ICWA applies: consent must be executed in writing before a judge, not before ten days after birth, with judicial certification of understanding, and is withdrawable at any time before the final decree. § 1913.
  • [ ] Address the placement preferences of § 1915 and document any good-cause deviation on the record.
  • [ ] Confirm the court makes express ICWA findings in the decree.

Why it matters, and the traps. A decree entered in violation of §§ 1911, 1912, or 1913 is invalidatable on petition by the child, a parent, an Indian custodian, or the tribe under § 1914 — years later. There is no comparable exposure anywhere else in adoption practice. Haaland v. Brackeen, 599 U.S. 255 (2023), rejected the constitutional challenges, so the statute is not going away. The trap is skipping the inquiry because the family "obviously" has no tribal connection. Ask anyway, in every case, and put the answer in the file — the inquiry is free and the omission is not curable. A second trap: treating a tribe's silence as consent. It is not; the statute requires notice and a response period, and a tribe that intervenes after placement has a statutory right to do so.

Phase 6 — Consent and the Revocation Period

  • [ ] Confirm the earliest lawful moment for maternal consent in the governing state — nearly always after birth, commonly 48 or 72 hours.
  • [ ] Confirm the required form: witnesses, notarization, execution before a judge, independent counsel certificate, or specific statutory language.
  • [ ] Confirm and use the state's official form where one is prescribed.
  • [ ] Deliver every required advisement of rights and document delivery.
  • [ ] Have the consent executed outside the hospital where practical, and never while the birth parent is medicated.
  • [ ] Obtain the father's consent, denial and waiver, or termination order.
  • [ ] Obtain the child's consent if the child is above the statutory age.
  • [ ] Calculate the revocation period to the day and calendar it.
  • [ ] Advise the adoptive parents in writing of the revocation deadline and what happens if it is exercised.
  • [ ] After expiry, obtain and file the certification or order confirming the consent is irrevocable, where the state provides one.

Why it matters, and the traps. Revocation rules diverge more than anything else in adoption law: irrevocable on execution in some states, revocable for a fixed window in others, revocable until finalization on a best-interests showing in still others. A consent that is bulletproof in one state is a thirty-day option in another. The trap is the hospital signing. A consent taken at the bedside, hours after delivery, from a medicated and exhausted parent, without counsel, is the fact pattern in every reported case setting a consent aside for duress or incapacity. Wait the full statutory period, do it somewhere else, offer counsel, and record that you did. It costs a day and it protects the child's placement permanently.

Phase 7 — ICPC Clearance

  • [ ] Determine whether the placement crosses state lines and whether an exemption applies (parent, stepparent, grandparent, adult sibling, adult aunt or uncle, or guardian).
  • [ ] Prepare the ICPC-100A with the required attachments: home study, background checks, child's information, birth parent consents or a status statement, financial and medical arrangements, and the state's supplemental forms.
  • [ ] Submit to the sending state's compact administrator; track the forwarding to the receiving state.
  • [ ] Advise the adoptive parents before travel that they must remain in the birth state until written approval issues — typically several business days to several weeks.
  • [ ] Arrange lodging, employment leave, and childcare for the wait.
  • [ ] Obtain the written approval before the child crosses the state line.
  • [ ] File the ICPC-100B notifying the compact office of placement, and later of finalization.

Why it matters, and the traps. This is the most common procedural error in interstate adoption, and it is entirely avoidable. New parents standing in a hospital in another state with a newborn want to go home; the compact says they may not, and a violation is an unlawful placement that can trigger a return order, licensure exposure, and criminal penalties in some states. Tell clients at intake that they should budget one to three weeks in the birth state. The second trap is a packet that sits because one document is missing — call the receiving state's compact office in advance and ask what they require, then submit complete.

Phase 8 — Placement and Post-Placement Supervision

  • [ ] Execute the placement agreement and document the date of physical placement.
  • [ ] Obtain the child's medical records, immunization history, and Social Security number.
  • [ ] Add the child to health insurance — special enrollment runs from placement, not finalization.
  • [ ] Where applicable, execute the Title IV-E adoption assistance agreement — this must be signed before finalization.
  • [ ] Complete the required post-placement visits over the statutory supervision period.
  • [ ] Obtain the evaluator's post-placement reports for filing.
  • [ ] Take FMLA or state paid family leave for placement.
  • [ ] Maintain the expense ledger and receipts for the accounting.
  • [ ] Where the state requires it, file an interim report or appear at a review hearing.

Why it matters, and the traps. The adoption assistance agreement is the quiet catastrophe. Families adopting a child with special needs from foster care are entitled to a subsidy — a monthly payment, Medicaid, and non-recurring expense reimbursement — but the agreement must be executed before the decree, and courts and agencies have consistently held there is no cure afterward. Families have lost years of support because nobody raised it in time. The second trap is insurance: the special enrollment window runs from placement and it is short.

Phase 9 — Petition, Hearing, and Decree

  • [ ] File the petition with: consents or termination orders; the home study; post-placement reports; registry search results; ICWA documentation; ICPC approval; the expense accounting; the proposed post-adoption contact agreement; and the proposed decree.
  • [ ] Give notice to every party entitled to it and file proofs of service.
  • [ ] Confirm the residency and supervision periods have run.
  • [ ] Confirm the proposed name for the child and the spelling on every document.
  • [ ] Attend the finalization hearing with the adoptive parents and the child where required.
  • [ ] Obtain express findings: jurisdiction, valid consents or terminations, ICWA compliance or inapplicability, ICPC compliance, expenses within statutory limits, and best interests.
  • [ ] Obtain certified copies of the decree — at least four.
  • [ ] Ensure any post-adoption contact agreement is approved and incorporated, with the standard recital that a breach does not affect the decree's validity.

Why it matters, and the traps. The decree is the point of the exercise. It is a judgment, entitled to full faith and credit in every other state under V.L. v. E.L., 577 U.S. 404 (2016) — which is why families who move, travel, or face a hospital emergency in another state are protected by a decree in a way they are not protected by a birth certificate or a presumption. Get the findings on the record; a decree reciting them forecloses later attack far better than one that is silent. And order more certified copies than you think you need, at the counter, on the day — obtaining them later is a chore.

Phase 10 — After the Decree

  • [ ] Apply for the amended birth certificate.
  • [ ] Apply for a Social Security card in the child's new name.
  • [ ] Update health insurance, employer records, school records, and the child's passport.
  • [ ] Claim the adoption tax credit, 26 U.S.C. § 23, observing the timing rules and retaining the expense documentation.
  • [ ] Confirm any employer adoption assistance exclusion under 26 U.S.C. § 137.
  • [ ] Update the adoptive parents' estate plan: wills, trusts, beneficiary designations, and guardian nominations, with express language on adopted children.
  • [ ] File the ICPC-100B finalization notice.
  • [ ] Calendar the first post-adoption contact obligation and give the family a schedule.
  • [ ] Deliver a closing memorandum with certified copies, the registry searches, the ICWA file, and the ICPC approvals — the family should keep the whole file permanently.
  • [ ] Where the adoption is intercountry or a foreign decree is involved, complete the readoption and obtain the Certificate of Citizenship.

Why it matters, and the traps. Estate planning is the step everyone skips. A will executed before the adoption that leaves the estate to "my children" is probably fine; beneficiary designations naming specific people are not, and a trust drafted with a definition of "descendants" that excludes adopted persons is a real and recurring problem. Update the documents. The other is the closing memorandum: twenty years on, an adult adoptee, a passport office, or a probate court may want proof, and the family's own file is where it will come from.

See Wills, Trusts, and Probate: A Comprehensive Estate Planning Guide.

Worked Example

Marisol and Dev Okonjo (fictional) live in Illinois and are matched through a licensed agency with Cassia, a birth mother in Missouri who is thirty-one weeks pregnant. Cassia is separated from her husband Bram but not divorced. She names Rafe as the biological father; they conceived in Kansas, where she then lived, and she moved to Missouri at four months.

Phase 1. Counsel represents the Okonjos only. Missouri counsel is retained. The engagement letter states the four risks in bold.

Phase 3. The separation is the first flag: Bram is a presumed father under Missouri's marital presumption and his consent or a termination is required. Counsel locates him; he executes a denial of paternity and consent.

Phase 4. Registry searches are run in Kansas and Missouri — both, because conception was in one state and the birth will be in the other. Rafe is located and personally served with notice. He initially indicates he will contest, then executes a consent after consulting his own counsel, whose fee the Okonjos pay as a permitted expense.

Phase 5. Both birth parents are asked the ICWA question in writing. Cassia reports possible Cherokee ancestry through a grandparent. Counsel does not guess. Notice goes by registered mail to the three federally recognized Cherokee tribes and the BIA regional office. Two respond that the child is not eligible; the third responds after a request for the 20-day extension, also negative. The receipts and responses are filed. This adds five weeks and eliminates the only risk that could unwind the adoption at age twelve.

Phase 6. The baby, Ines, is born. Missouri requires 48 hours before maternal consent. Counsel waits the full period, arranges execution at Missouri counsel's office rather than the hospital, confirms Cassia is not medicated, and confirms she has spoken with her own attorney. Missouri's consent is irrevocable once approved by the court; the order issues.

Phase 7. ICPC-100A goes to Missouri's compact office with the Illinois home study — updated the prior month, because the match took eleven months and the original study was about to expire. Illinois approves in nine days. The Okonjos, who were warned at intake, have booked an extended-stay hotel and taken FMLA leave. They drive home on day ten with written approval in hand.

Phase 8. Ines is added to Dev's health plan under the placement special enrollment. Six months of post-placement visits follow.

Phase 9. The petition is filed in Illinois with the consents, the termination-free father documentation, the registry searches from both states, the ICWA notice file, the ICPC approval, and an expense accounting totaling permitted medical, legal, counseling, and living expenses. The decree issues with express ICWA and ICPC findings. Six certified copies.

Phase 10. Amended birth certificate, Social Security card, tax credit, and a revised estate plan naming Ines expressly. The post-adoption contact agreement — two letters and photographs a year, plus one visit, through an agency intermediary — is incorporated in the decree with the standard recital. Counsel calendars the first letter.

What made it work: searching two registries instead of one, asking the ICWA question of a family that "obviously" had no tribal connection, waiting the full 48 hours somewhere other than a hospital room, and telling the Okonjos in the first meeting that they would be living in Missouri for two weeks.

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