How to Adopt a Child in Arkansas: Consent, Home Study, and Costs

To adopt a child in Arkansas, you file a petition in the circuit court where you or the child lives, complete a home study, secure written consent from the birth parents (or a court order terminating their rights), and appear at a final hearing where a judge issues the adoption decree. The process usually takes six months or longer, and the details shift depending on whether you’re adopting through foster care, a private agency, an independent placement, or as a stepparent or relative.

Who Can Adopt

Arkansas law allows four categories of people to file an adoption petition: a married couple together, an unmarried adult, the unmarried biological parent of the child, or a married person acting alone. A married person can petition without their spouse joining when the spouse is already the child’s legal parent and consents, when the couple is legally separated, or when the court excuses the spouse’s failure to join because of prolonged absence, unavailability, or unreasonable withholding of consent.¹

Foster care adoptions handled by the Department of Human Services carry stricter rules. You must be at least 21, and the age gap between you and the child cannot exceed 45 years.² For the court to have jurisdiction, either you or the child must be an Arkansas resident.³

Choose Your Adoption Route

The path you choose determines the cost, the timeline, and much of the paperwork.

Foster care adoption through DHS. You adopt a child in state custody whose biological parents’ rights have already been terminated. This is the least expensive route, and ongoing state financial support is available. It usually starts with becoming a licensed foster parent, which involves training and a home study.
Private agency adoption. A licensed agency matches you with a birth parent who has chosen to place a child. Costs are substantially higher than foster care, and how long it takes depends on the agency and the wait for a match.
Independent adoption. You work directly with an attorney rather than an agency, and the birth parent and adoptive family connect on their own or through an intermediary. Arkansas prohibits paying a birth parent any fee or compensation in exchange for relinquishing a child; reasonable pregnancy-related expenses like medical care, housing, food, and clothing are allowed. Violating that rule is a Class C felony.⁴
Stepparent or relative adoption. A stepparent or close relative adopts a child they already know. The home study can be waived by the court for stepparents and relatives within the second degree of kinship.⁵

Complete a Home Study

The home study is the biggest piece of preparation. A licensed social worker evaluates your household to determine whether it’s a safe and suitable environment for a child. The written report has to include a recommendation on whether to approve you as an adoptive parent, and it must be filed with the court before the petition can be heard.⁶

Expect the process to look at your family background, finances, employment, health, relationships, parenting experience, and the physical layout of your home. You’ll provide financial records, personal references, and medical reports. Every adult in the household goes through state and federal criminal background checks plus a check of the child abuse and neglect registry. The social worker will visit your home and interview household members.

Stepparents, relatives within the second degree (grandparents, siblings), and adult adoptions can qualify for a home study waiver if the court agrees.⁵

Get Consent or Terminate Parental Rights

The adoption cannot move forward unless the biological parents consent or a court terminates their rights. Mistakes here can unravel an adoption after everyone thought it was final.

Whose Consent Is Required

Written consent has to come from the birth mother and, in most cases, the birth father. The father’s consent is required if he was married to the mother at or after conception, has a custody order, has been adjudicated the legal father, has acknowledged paternity, or has established a significant custodial, personal, or financial relationship with the child. A child older than 12 must also consent, though the court can dispense with that requirement if doing so serves the child’s best interest.⁴

When Consent Isn’t Required

A court can proceed without a parent’s consent in several situations: when a parent has abandoned the child, when a parent has failed to communicate with or support the child for at least a year without justifiable cause, when parental rights have already been terminated, or when a parent has been judicially declared incompetent. A putative father who signed a paternity acknowledgment or registered with the Putative Father Registry but never built a meaningful relationship with the child also loses the right to block the adoption.⁷

The 10-Day Revocation Window

Birth parents who sign consent have 10 calendar days to change their mind by filing an affidavit with the circuit court clerk. If the parent signed a waiver of the 10-day period at the time of consent, that shrinks to five calendar days. The clock starts when consent is signed or the child is born, whichever comes later. Once the revocation period expires, consent is irrevocable, and once a final decree of adoption is entered, consent cannot be withdrawn under any circumstances.⁸ The same window applies to a formal relinquishment.⁹ For stepparent adoptions, the court has discretion to excuse the revocation period entirely.

Involuntary Termination

When a birth parent will not consent or cannot be located, a separate proceeding to terminate parental rights has to happen first. Common grounds include a child being out of the parent’s custody for 12 months with no meaningful progress toward reunification, willful failure to provide support or maintain contact for 12 months, and abandonment.¹⁰ The 12-month periods do not have to be consecutive.

File the Petition and Finalize

The formal case begins when you file a Petition for Adoption with the circuit court clerk in the county where you live, where the child lives, or where the adoption agency is located. The petition states your intent to adopt and provides identifying information about you and the child. Before the court enters any adoption decree, a detailed health, genetic, and social history of the child must also be filed with the clerk.⁶

No hearing can be scheduled until the consent or relinquishment revocation period has fully expired. Anyone whose consent is required but hasn’t been given, and anyone whose consent is being dispensed with on certain grounds, must receive at least 20 days’ notice of the hearing. If someone entitled to notice cannot be found, the court appoints an attorney ad litem to make a reasonable effort to locate them and, if that fails, to publish notice in a local newspaper once a week for four consecutive weeks.⁶

At the hearing, the judge reviews the home study, consents or termination orders, the child’s health and social history, and the attorney ad litem’s findings. If the adoption serves the child’s best interest, the court issues a Final Decree of Adoption. That decree ends the legal relationship between the child and the biological parents and creates a new, permanent parent-child relationship with you, giving you every right and responsibility as if the child had been born to you, including inheritance rights.¹¹

Get a New Birth Certificate

Once the adoption is final, the State Registrar of Vital Records issues a new birth certificate showing you as the parent. The registrar needs a certified copy of the decree and enough information to identify the original birth record. The new certificate reflects the child’s actual city or county and date of birth. The original birth certificate and all adoption evidence are sealed after that and cannot be inspected without a court order. You can decline a new certificate if you’d rather not have one issued.¹²

Costs and Financial Assistance

What you pay depends almost entirely on the type of adoption. Foster care adoptions through DHS often cost little to nothing out of pocket. Private agency and independent adoptions run substantially higher once agency services, legal representation, permitted birth parent expenses, and court costs add up. International adoptions tend to cost the most.

Arkansas provides meaningful support to families who adopt children with special needs from foster care. Monthly subsidy payments are based on the child’s age, ranging from $451 for children under six to $550 for children 15 and older. Children who received a higher foster care rate before adoption may keep a subsidy matching that rate, and the state reimburses up to $1,500 per child for one-time adoption expenses like court costs and attorney fees.¹³ A separate program covers services tied to a child’s specific needs (therapy, medication, medical devices, psychological testing) when no other resource will pay. Adoption assistance can continue until the child turns 18, and may extend to 21 for children with qualifying disabilities or those adopted at age 16 or older.

Federal Adoption Tax Credit

For the 2025 tax year, the federal adoption tax credit is worth up to $17,280 per eligible child. The credit begins to phase out at modified adjusted gross income above $259,190 and disappears entirely at $299,190.¹⁴ Qualifying expenses include adoption fees, attorney fees, court costs, travel, and home study fees. You cannot claim the credit for adopting a spouse’s child, for surrogacy arrangements, or for expenses reimbursed by an employer or government program.¹⁵

Starting with the 2025 tax year, up to $5,000 of the credit is refundable, so you can receive that portion even if you owe no federal income tax. Any remaining nonrefundable balance carries forward for up to five years.¹⁴ You claim the credit on IRS Form 8839. Arkansas also offers a state income tax credit equal to 20 percent of the federal adoption credit you claim.

Time Off From Work

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 through adoption, with group health benefits maintained on the same terms as if you were still working. Leave has to be taken within one year of placement. To qualify, you must have worked for your employer for at least 12 months, logged at least 1,250 hours in the past year, and work at a location where the employer has at least 50 employees within 75 miles. FMLA covers private employers with 50 or more employees, all public agencies regardless of size, and public and private schools. You and your employer can agree to take the leave intermittently or on a reduced schedule.¹⁶

Adopting Across State Lines

If the child lives in another state, the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children applies. A child cannot be brought into Arkansas for adoption until the appropriate Arkansas authorities review the proposed placement and confirm in writing that it does not appear contrary to the child’s interests. The sending state has to provide written notice with identifying information about the child, the parents or guardian, the proposed placement, and the reason for it. Moving a child across state lines without completing ICPC can jeopardize the adoption.¹⁷ ICPC approval typically adds one to two months to the timeline, though private and independent adoptions sometimes clear faster.

Adopting a Child With Tribal Ties

If the child is or may be a member of a federally recognized tribe, the Indian Child Welfare Act imposes additional requirements that override standard state procedures. In involuntary proceedings, the party seeking termination must notify the parent, Indian custodian, and the child’s tribe by registered mail with return receipt. No hearing on termination or foster care placement can occur until at least 10 days after the parent, custodian, and tribe receive that notice, and they can request up to 20 additional days.

Federal law also sets a placement preference hierarchy: absent good cause to deviate, preference goes first to a member of the child’s extended family, then to other members of the child’s tribe, then to other Indian families. A tribe can adopt a different preference order by resolution, and the court must follow it as long as the placement meets the child’s needs.¹⁸ ICWA violations are one of the most common grounds for overturning a finalized adoption, so if there’s any tribal connection, work with an attorney who has experience with ICWA compliance.

1
Justia. Arkansas Code 9-9-204 – Who May Adopt
2
Legal Aid of Arkansas. Children’s Law – Adoption
3
Child Welfare Information Gateway. Court Jurisdiction and Venue for Adoption Petitions – Arkansas
4
Justia. Arkansas Code 9-9-206 – Persons Required to Consent to Adoption
5
Arkansas Department of Human Services. Adoption Information Sheet
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Justia. Arkansas Code 9-9-212 – Hearing on Petition – Requirements
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FindLaw. Arkansas Code Title 9 Family Law 9-9-207
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Justia. Arkansas Code 9-9-209 – Withdrawal of Consent
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Justia. Arkansas Code 9-9-220 – Relinquishment and Termination
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Justia. Arkansas Code 9-27-341 – Termination of Parental Rights
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Justia. Arkansas Code 9-9-215 – Effect of Decree of Adoption
12
Justia. Arkansas Code 20-18-406 – New Certificates
13
Child Welfare Information Gateway. Adoption and Guardianship Assistance – Arkansas
14
Internal Revenue Service. 2025 Instructions for Form 8839
15
Internal Revenue Service. Adoption Credit
16
U.S. Department of Labor. Family and Medical Leave Act
17
Justia. Arkansas Code 9-29-201 – Text of Compact
18
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 25 USC 1915 – Placement of Indian Children