Adoption by step-parents is one of the most common forms of adoption in the United States although it gets far less attention than adoption from outside the household.
If your family is preparing for a step-parent adoption, be prepared to invest time and money in the process. You will need a lawyer, and your county or state of residence may require home visits and social worker interviews as well. Be sure to save enough to cover all the fees involved in the process.
When the adoption takes place, the child will be issued a new birth certificate with the birth parent and adoptive parents’ names. You may want to change the child’s surname during this process; if the child is old enough to understand, it can be helpful to involve him or her in the conversation as part of the process of acknowledging the change in the family. If the child is too young to remember, it’s best to start introducing the information about the adoption naturally.
Little children love hearing stories of their birth and early months, and if your child grows up having this information about his past discussed in a matter-of-fact fashion, it will not come as a shock later.