Adoption in North Carolina

At Wake Family Law Group, we understand the complexities that arise in the North Carolina adoption process. Our NC adoption attorneys can represent either the birth parents or the adoptive parents (not both in the same matter), providing a solid legal foundation to ensure the integrity of the adoption process and to protect the rights of all parties involved in the adoption. We help married couples and individuals with the following types of adoptions:

• Independent Adoptions – In an independent adoption, the adoptive parents locate a child who is available for adoption either from North Carolina or another state without the assistance of an adoption agency. These are sometimes also called private adoptions.

• Step Parent Adoptions – In a stepparent adoption, the spouse of the child’s parent seeks to formalize a parent-child relationship and become a legal parent of the child of his or her spouse.   We also work with same sex married couples to assist the parent who is not the legal or genetic parent of the child to formalize the parental relationship via a stepparent adoption (sometimes called a Second Parent Adoption).

• Relative Adoptions – In relative adoptions, the adoptive parents seek to adopt a child who is related to the adoptive parents, such as a grandchild, niece, or sibling.

• Adult Adoptions – In adult adoptions, the adoptive parents request to become parents of an adult. These adoptions are sometimes completed in adulthood because adoption was not an available option during the adoptee’s minority because a biological parent, whose consent was necessary, would not consent.

We do not currently assist families with international adoptions or foreign re-adoptions.

In North Carolina, unmarried people cannot adopt a child or adult together.

Our frequently asked questions page offers more information about adoptions in North Carolina, or contact WFLG to schedule a consultation.