How to Adopt a Child in NC: Home Study, Consents & Costs

To adopt a child in NC, you file a petition with the Clerk of Superior Court after completing a home study, clearing criminal background checks, and obtaining consent from the child’s biological parents. Finalization usually takes six months or longer after the child is placed with you.¹ The specific path depends on whether you’re adopting through foster care, a licensed private agency, or a direct arrangement with a birth parent, but every adoption in the state runs through the same Chapter 48 framework.

Who Can Adopt

Any adult can adopt in North Carolina. There is no upper age limit, no homeownership requirement, and no minimum income threshold set by statute.² Single people and married couples both qualify. If you are married, your spouse must join the petition unless the court waives that for good cause.³

At least one petitioner must have lived in North Carolina for six consecutive months immediately before filing.⁴ Every prospective adoptive parent also has to clear a criminal background check with fingerprinting, plus a check against the North Carolina Responsible Individuals List, which tracks people previously found responsible for child abuse or neglect.⁵ A disqualifying result on either stops the process.

Choose Your Pathway

North Carolina recognizes three main routes, and the one you take affects your timeline, cost, and paperwork.

Agency placement, including foster care. A licensed child-placing agency or your county Department of Social Services matches you with a child. Foster care adoptions go through the county DSS, which handles much of the paperwork and often covers costs beyond the court filing fee. Private agencies handle domestic infant placements and international adoptions at higher cost.
Direct placement. A birth parent places the child with you without an agency in the middle. You still need a preplacement home study and court approval, and an attorney usually coordinates the legal side.
Stepparent or relative adoption. If you’re adopting your spouse’s child, or you’re a grandparent, full or half sibling, first cousin, or great-aunt or great-uncle, the preplacement assessment is not required.⁶

Adoption proceedings are filed in superior court as special proceedings heard by the Clerk of Superior Court. If the adoption is contested, the case transfers to district court.⁷

Complete the Home Study

Before a child can be placed with you, a licensed agency must complete a written preplacement assessment, commonly called a home study. The assessment has to be completed or updated within 18 months before placement and must conclude that you are suitable to adopt.⁶ The agency has 90 days from accepting your request to finish it.

The evaluator will visit your home and review your physical and mental health history, including any substance use; your income, property, and current finances; your marital history and other children in the household; any criminal convictions beyond minor traffic matters; any domestic violence or child welfare proceedings; the condition of your home; and any prior home studies or adoption placements.⁸ For children in county DSS custody, the criminal history check extends to every person 18 or older living in your home. Expect to provide medical clearances from a licensed physician and personal references from people outside your family.

Get the Required Consents

No adoption moves forward without consent from every person the statute identifies, and a child who is 12 or older must personally consent as well.⁹

In a direct placement, the mother must consent. So must any man who has a legal connection to the child, which includes a man who was married to the mother, attempted to marry her before the birth, legitimated the child, acknowledged paternity, or received the child into his home and held the child out as his own.¹⁰ In an agency placement, the placing agency also consents. A parent whose rights have already been terminated by court order does not need to consent.

The Seven-Day Revocation Window

This is where adoptions most often come apart. After signing a consent, a biological parent has seven days to revoke it by delivering written notice to the person named in the consent document. If the seventh day lands on a weekend or court holiday, the deadline moves to the next business day.¹¹ Once seven days pass without revocation, the consent is permanent.

If a parent does revoke, the prospective adoptive parent must return the child right away. The adoption cannot proceed until a new consent is obtained or the parent’s rights are terminated. A second consent given to the same adoptive parents is irrevocable the moment it’s signed. After the seven-day window closes, a consent can only be challenged by proving fraud or duress with clear and convincing evidence before the decree is entered.¹¹

File the Petition

The petition for adoption is the formal document asking the court to create the parent-child relationship. You can file it with the Clerk of Superior Court in the county where you live, where the child lives, or where the placing agency has an office.¹² The petition form (DSS-1800) is available from the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services.³

Your petition includes your full name, address, marital status, and confirmation of six months of North Carolina residency. You’ll list the child’s sex, date and place of birth if known, the name you want the child to have after adoption, and a description of any property the child owns. If the child isn’t yet in your custody, you explain why and when you expect to receive custody. You must also confirm that a qualifying preplacement assessment has been completed.

There is a filing fee set by the Clerk of Court in your county. For foster care adoptions, $120 per child is a commonly reported figure.

Supervisory Visits and the Final Decree

Once the child is in your home, a social worker or agency representative conducts supervisory visits to see how the child is adjusting and how the family is functioning. Those visits produce a report that goes to the court. NCDHHS estimates that finalization typically takes six months or longer after placement, so expect a meaningful stretch of visits before the hearing.¹

After you file, the court must set a hearing date within 90 days. The hearing or final disposition itself must happen within six months of filing, though the court can extend that for good cause.¹³ If the adoption is uncontested and the paperwork is complete, the court can finalize it without a formal hearing. When the court finds the adoption serves the child’s best interest, the Clerk issues a Final Decree of Adoption that severs the legal relationship with the biological parents and establishes you as the child’s legal parent.

Order the New Birth Certificate

After the decree is entered, the Clerk of Superior Court sends the court order to the NC Division of Social Services. Within 40 days, DSS forwards a certified “Report to Vital Records” to the NC Office of Vital Records, which then prepares a new birth certificate reflecting the child’s new name and legal parents.¹⁴ You order the new certificate using the Adoptions Processing Form on the Vital Records website. Fees are $15 for adoption processing and $24 for the search and first certified copy.¹⁵ Do not order through third-party services like VitalChek; the order must go directly through the Office of Vital Records.

If the child was born in another state, you’ll need to obtain a certified out-of-state court order and submit it yourself to the NC Office of Vital Records along with the processing form, identification, and payment.¹⁴

If the Child Lives in Another State

When the child is in another state, the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children applies. The ICPC requires formal approval from both the sending and receiving states before a child can cross state lines for adoption, and in North Carolina the Division of Social Services administers the compact.¹⁶ Only after North Carolina’s ICPC office grants formal approval can the child move into your home. Moving a child without that approval is a legal violation in both states and can derail the entire adoption.

What It Costs

What you’ll spend depends almost entirely on the pathway. The range runs from nearly free to tens of thousands of dollars.

Foster care adoption. The least expensive route. The county DSS handles most of the process, and your main out-of-pocket cost is the $120 court filing fee per child. Attorney fees are extra if you hire one, though some agencies work with attorneys at reduced rates, and many costs are reimbursable through adoption assistance.
Agency placement. Private agency fees vary widely and often bundle the home study, matching, birth parent counseling, and administration. Home study fees alone commonly run between $900 and $3,500, and total agency costs climb from there depending on the organization and whether the adoption is domestic or international.
Direct placement. You’ll pay for a home study, attorney fees for yourself and potentially the birth parent’s lawyer, court filing fees, and any allowable birth parent expenses. Attorney fees range from a few thousand dollars in straightforward cases to $40,000 or more in complex or contested ones.

Every adoption also carries the new birth certificate cost ($39 to the Office of Vital Records) and potentially fingerprinting fees. Ask your agency or attorney for a written estimate before you commit.

Help With the Cost

Several programs offset adoption expenses, and families adopting children with special needs through foster care get the most support.

North Carolina Adoption Assistance

Children who qualify as having special needs are eligible for monthly adoption assistance payments. The state’s minimum monthly amounts by age:

Birth through age 5: $702 per month
Ages 6 through 12: $742 per month
Ages 13 through 18: $810 per month

Local agencies can pay above these minimums but cannot exceed the foster care board rate for the child. Families can also receive reimbursement of up to $2,000 per adoption for non-recurring expenses like court costs and attorney fees.¹⁷ To qualify, the child must meet the state’s special needs criteria: the child cannot safely return to their birth parents, a specific condition makes placement without assistance unlikely, and a reasonable effort was made to place the child without providing assistance.

Federal Adoption Tax Credit

The federal adoption tax credit covers qualifying adoption expenses including agency fees, attorney fees, court costs, and travel. For 2026, the maximum credit is approximately $17,670 per eligible child, adjusted annually for inflation. Beginning with the 2025 tax year, up to $5,000 of the credit is refundable, meaning you can receive that portion even if you owe no federal income tax. The remaining credit carries forward for up to five years. The credit phases out at higher incomes, so families with a modified adjusted gross income well above $250,000 should check current thresholds. You claim it on IRS Form 8839.

If your employer offers an adoption assistance program, you can exclude up to $17,670 from your taxable income for 2026 on qualifying expenses reimbursed through the program. You can use both the credit and the employer exclusion, but not for the same dollar of expense.

Military Families

Active-duty service members, including Reserve and National Guard members on active duty for 180 or more consecutive days, can request reimbursement of qualifying adoption expenses up to $2,000 per child and $5,000 per calendar year. Submit the request to the Defense Finance and Accounting Service within two years of finalization.¹⁸

1
North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. Frequently Asked Questions
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North Carolina General Assembly. North Carolina Code 48-1-103 – Who May Adopt
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North Carolina Judicial Branch. Adoption
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UNC School of Government. Jurisdiction and Venue-Adoptions
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North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. Responsible Individuals List Information Request
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North Carolina General Assembly. North Carolina General Statutes 48-3-301 – Preplacement Assessment Required
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UNC School of Government. Overview of the North Carolina Child Welfare System
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North Carolina General Assembly. North Carolina Code 48-3-303 – Preplacement Assessment Required Content
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North Carolina General Assembly. North Carolina General Statutes 48-3-601 – Persons Whose Consent to Adoption Is Required
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Child Welfare Information Gateway. Consent to Adoption – North Carolina
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North Carolina General Assembly. North Carolina Code 48-3-608 – Revocation of Consent
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North Carolina General Assembly. North Carolina General Statutes Chapter 48 Article 2 – General Adoption Procedure
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North Carolina General Assembly. North Carolina General Statutes 48-2-601 – Hearing on or Disposition of Adoption Petition
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North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. NC Vital Records Adoptions Process and Forms
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North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. North Carolina Office of Vital Records Adoption Process and Fees
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North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. Interstate Services
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North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. Adoption Assistance Funding Appendix
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Military OneSource. Defense Department Adoption Reimbursement