The adoption process in Texas moves through the same five stages no matter which route you take: you qualify as an adoptive parent, complete a home study, end the biological parents’ legal rights to the child, file a petition in court, and attend a finalization hearing after the child has lived with you for a required period. Start to finish, most adoptions take six months to more than a year. What changes between routes is the cost, who places the child, how long each step takes, and which extra rules apply.
The Route You Choose Shapes Everything
Before anything else, decide which type of adoption fits your situation, because the timeline, price tag, and paperwork all follow from that choice.
- Private agency adoption matches you with a newborn or young child through a licensed child-placing agency. It’s the most expensive route and typically the longest wait.
- Foster care adoption, handled by the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS), places children who were removed from their homes due to abuse or neglect. Many are older, part of sibling groups, or have special needs. Out-of-pocket cost is close to zero.
- Stepparent adoption lets you adopt your spouse’s child once the other biological parent’s rights are terminated. Because the child already lives in the home, this is the most streamlined route.
- Relative adoption works similarly when a grandparent, aunt, uncle, or other family member steps in.
- International adoption requires compliance with Texas law and federal immigration procedures through U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
If an adoption would move a child across state lines within the U.S., the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children requires approval from both the sending and receiving state before the child can be placed.
Who Can Adopt in Texas
To adopt through Texas foster care, you must be at least 21, financially stable, and a responsible adult. You can be single or married. Married couples must petition together.1Texas Department of Family and Protective Services. Requirements for Foster/Adopt Families Private agencies set their own extra criteria, which can include age caps, health requirements, or minimum years of marriage, within the bounds of federal and state anti-discrimination law.
Background checks are mandatory for every adult in the household. DFPS treats anyone aged 14 or older who lives in or regularly visits the home as an adult for this purpose. The checks pull criminal history and child abuse and neglect records.2AdoptUSKids. Texas Foster Care and Adoption
The Home Study
Every adoption in Texas requires a home study conducted by a licensed social worker. It does two jobs at once: it evaluates whether you can provide a safe, stable environment, and it prepares you for what adoption actually looks like.
The social worker visits your home to look at the physical space, confirm the child will have adequate room, and flag safety hazards. Expect interviews with everyone who lives in the household. You’ll hand over financial documentation (pay stubs, tax returns) and medical records showing you’re physically able to care for a child. Plan on two to three months from start to finish, longer if documents or scheduling slip.
Training if You’re Adopting Through Foster Care
DFPS requires foster-adopt families to complete the National Training and Development Curriculum for Foster and Adoptive Parents, a 19-hour pre-service program covering trauma, challenging behaviors, and working with birth families.3Texas Department of Family and Protective Services. Foster Care Training Private agencies and international adoption programs set their own training requirements, which vary.
Ending the Birth Parents’ Legal Rights
No adoption can be finalized until the legal relationship between the child and the biological parents has been severed. Texas handles that in two ways.
Voluntary Relinquishment
A birth parent can sign an affidavit giving up parental rights, but not until at least 48 hours after the child is born.4State of Texas. Texas Family Code 161.103 – Affidavit of Voluntary Relinquishment of Parental Rights Whether the affidavit can later be undone depends on who it names as the child’s managing conservator. If it names DFPS or a licensed child-placing agency, the relinquishment is irrevocable the moment it’s signed. If it names anyone else, the parent can revoke it unless the affidavit says it is irrevocable for a set period of up to 60 days.
When the affidavit says nothing about irrevocability, the parent has 10 days to change their mind. After the 10th day, it becomes permanent.5Texas Public Law. Texas Family Code 161.1035 In a private agency adoption, the affidavit usually names the agency, so revocation is off the table from the start. In an independent adoption, know the revocation window before anyone signs anything.
Involuntary Termination
If a biological parent won’t consent, a court can terminate parental rights on clear and convincing evidence that termination serves the child’s best interest. Grounds include abandoning the child, placing the child in conditions that endanger their physical or emotional well-being, failing to support the child financially for at least a year, and certain criminal conduct.6State of Texas. Texas Family Code 161.001 – Involuntary Termination of Parent-Child Relationship Foster care adoptions almost always run through involuntary termination because the state removed the child. Stepparent adoptions sometimes require it when the absent parent refuses to cooperate.
The Child’s Own Consent
A child aged 12 or older must consent to the adoption, either in writing or in open court. A judge can waive that if waiver serves the child’s best interest. If the adoption will change the child’s name and the child is at least 10, the child must also consent to the name change.7State of Texas. Texas Family Code 162.010
Filing the Adoption Petition
With parental rights terminated and the home study complete, the formal legal case begins with a Petition for Adoption. File it in a district court or statutory county court with family law jurisdiction in the county where you or the child lives. Married couples must both be named as petitioners. The petition identifies the child, the prospective parents, and the legal basis for the adoption.
Stepparent adoptions can combine the termination of the other biological parent’s rights with the adoption petition in a single case, which cuts down on time and legal fees.
The Six-Month Wait and the Finalization Hearing
After the petition is filed, the child must live in your home for at least six months before the court will grant the adoption. A judge can waive the waiting period if it doesn’t serve the child’s best interest, which most often applies in stepparent or relative adoptions where the child has lived in the home for years.
During the wait, a social worker makes post-placement visits to see how the child is adjusting. Before the adoption is placed, the agency or person handling the placement also has to compile a report covering the child’s available health, social, educational, and genetic history and give it to you.8State of Texas. Texas Family Code 162.005 – Report of Health, Social, Educational, and Genetic History That report is edited to protect the identity of the birth parents.
The finalization hearing closes everything out. The judge reviews the post-placement report and the file, may ask you about your commitment and readiness, and signs the Final Decree of Adoption. From that moment, the child is a permanent, legal member of your family with the same rights as a biological child.
What It Costs and What Help Is Available
Costs swing hard between routes. Foster care adoption through DFPS is essentially free. The state picks up the home study, training, and legal costs, and DFPS reimburses up to $1,200 per child for reasonable adoption-related expenses like court costs and attorney fees.9Texas Department of Family and Protective Services. Adoption Assistance
Private domestic infant adoption is a different world. A full-service private agency adoption in Texas typically runs $60,000 to $75,000 once you add agency fees, birth mother expenses, legal fees, home study, and court filing fees. Stepparent and relative adoptions usually come down to attorney fees and court costs because no agency is involved. International adoption varies widely by country and often matches or exceeds private domestic cost once you add travel, translation, immigration fees, and foreign legal requirements.
Federal Adoption Tax Credit
The federal adoption tax credit offsets qualified expenses like agency fees, attorney costs, court fees, and travel. For adoptions finalized in 2026, you can claim up to $17,670 per child, and up to $5,120 of that is refundable, meaning you can receive it even if you owe no federal income tax.10Internal Revenue Service. IRS Releases Tax Inflation Adjustments for Tax Year 2026 The credit phases out at higher incomes: under the statute, the reduction begins when modified adjusted gross income exceeds a base threshold of $150,000 (adjusted annually for inflation) and disappears entirely $40,000 above that threshold.11Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 23 – Adoption Expenses
For special-needs adoptions, the tax credit works differently: you are treated as having paid the full credit amount in qualified expenses no matter what you actually spent, so you get the maximum credit even if the adoption cost you nothing. That matters most for foster care adoptions, where out-of-pocket costs are minimal.
Texas Adoption Assistance for Special-Needs Children
Texas also provides ongoing support to families who adopt children with special needs from foster care. The state’s adoption assistance program covers the child under Medicaid for medical, dental, psychiatric, and behavioral health care. Monthly payments depend on the child’s level of need: up to $400 per month at the basic service level and up to $545 per month for children requiring moderate, specialized, or intensive services.9Texas Department of Family and Protective Services. Adoption Assistance
Time Off Work Around Placement
The federal Family and Medical Leave Act gives eligible employees up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave for the placement of a child for adoption. You qualify if you’ve worked for a covered employer for at least 12 months, logged at least 1,250 hours in the previous year, and work at a location where the employer has at least 50 employees within 75 miles.12U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 28 – The Family and Medical Leave Act The leave has to be taken within 12 months of placement.13Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 U.S. Code 2612 – Leave Requirement
FMLA leave is unpaid unless your employer offers paid leave that runs alongside it. If you know the placement date in advance, give at least 30 days’ notice. Some Texas employers offer adoption-specific benefits beyond federal law, so check your employee handbook before placement.
After the Adoption Is Final
Getting a New Birth Certificate
Once the court signs the Final Decree of Adoption, you can request a new birth certificate for the child through the Texas Department of State Health Services. For a child born in Texas, your attorney or the district clerk submits a completed Certificate of Adoption form (VS-160), certified by the district clerk’s office, along with a certified copy of the final decree.14Texas DSHS. New Birth Certificate Based on Adoption The new certificate lists you as the child’s legal parents, and the original record is sealed.
Open Adoption Agreements
Some families keep ongoing contact between the adopted child and birth relatives, from exchanging photos and letters to occasional visits. Texas treats these agreements as enforceable only in limited situations, such as when the child was adopted from foster care or already had a relationship with the birth relative. Outside those situations, open adoption agreements are informal arrangements that rely on both families’ goodwill rather than court enforcement.
Two Situations That Add Extra Rules
Two circumstances pull the process outside standard Texas procedure, and you need to know early if either applies to you.
International adoption. Every international adoption must go through a U.S.-accredited or approved adoption service provider, which acts as the primary provider for the six federally defined adoption services.15U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. The Universal Accreditation Act If the child’s country is party to the Hague Adoption Convention, the sequence is fixed: you file Form I-800A with USCIS to establish your suitability, then work with your provider and the foreign country’s central authority on a proposed placement, then file Form I-800 to have the child classified as eligible to immigrate — all before you adopt or take custody. Adopting or taking custody first violates the Convention and can make the child ineligible for a U.S. visa.16U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. Hague Process For children from non-Hague countries, a separate petition process applies (Form I-600 instead of I-800), but the accreditation requirement is the same.
The Indian Child Welfare Act. If the child is a member of a federally recognized Indian tribe, or is the biological child of a tribal member and eligible for membership, the federal Indian Child Welfare Act overrides standard state procedures. In any involuntary proceeding where the court knows or has reason to believe an Indian child is involved, the party seeking termination of parental rights must notify the child’s parents, any Indian custodian, and the child’s tribe by registered mail with return receipt requested. The proceeding cannot move forward until at least 10 days after the tribe and parents receive notice, and either side can request an additional 20 days to prepare.17Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 25 U.S. Code 1912 – Pending Court Proceedings Federal law also sets a placement preference hierarchy for adopting an Indian child: first a member of the child’s extended family, then other members of the tribe, then other Indian families. The tribe can set a different order by resolution, and the court must follow it.18Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 25 U.S. Code 1915 – Placement of Indian Children A court can deviate only for good cause. If you may be adopting a child with tribal affiliation, work with an attorney who handles ICWA compliance.