To file adoption papers in Arkansas, you submit a written, verified petition to the circuit court clerk that contains the information required by Arkansas Code 9-9-210, along with the written consents the statute requires. After filing, a licensed agency or social worker completes a home study, background checks are run on the adults in the household, and a judge holds a hearing to decide whether the adoption serves the child’s best interest before entering an interlocutory or final decree.
What the Petition Must Contain
The petition is signed and verified by the person seeking to adopt and filed with the circuit court clerk. Arkansas Code 9-9-210 sets out exactly what has to be in it, and missing items can delay the case.1Justia. Arkansas Code 9-9-210 – Petition for Adoption
The petition must state:
- The child’s date and place of birth, if known.
- The name the child will use after the adoption.
- When the petitioner gained custody, who placed the child, and how the placement came about; if a licensed child placement agency handled it, the petition must say so.
- The petitioner’s full name, age, place and length of residence, marital status, and if married, the date and place of the marriage.
- A statement that the petitioner has the facilities and resources to care for the child, including any adoption subsidy agreement, and that the petitioner wants to establish a parent-child relationship.
- A description and estimated value of any property the child owns.
- The name of any person whose consent is legally required but has not been obtained, with the facts or circumstances that excuse the missing consent.
Who Has to Consent Before the Court Will Act
For a minor child, Arkansas requires written consent from the mother; from the father if he was married to the mother at or after conception, has adopted the child, has physical or court-ordered legal custody, has been adjudicated the legal father, has demonstrated a significant custodial, personal, or financial relationship with the child, or has acknowledged paternity under Arkansas Code 9-10-120(a); from any person or entity lawfully entitled to custody or authorized to consent; from the child if over age twelve, unless the court decides dispensing with that consent is in the child’s best interest; and from the spouse of the person being adopted.2Justia. Arkansas Code 9-9-206 – Persons Required to Consent to Adoption For an adult adoption, only the adult being adopted and that person’s spouse need to consent.
Consent must be executed after the child’s birth. A parent gives consent in the presence of the court or before a person authorized to take acknowledgments. An agency consents through its executive head or authorized representative before a notary-type official.3Justia. Arkansas Code 9-9-208 – How Consent Is Executed
When Consent Is Not Required
The court does not need consent from a parent who has deserted or abandoned the child; a parent who, for at least one year, has failed without justifiable cause to communicate with the child or to provide legally required support; a father whose relationship with the child does not meet any of the criteria in the consent statute; a parent who has formally relinquished parental rights or whose rights have been terminated by court order; a parent judicially declared incompetent, if the court dispenses with consent; or a putative father who is listed on the Putative Father Registry or who acknowledged paternity but failed to establish a significant custodial, personal, or financial relationship with the child before the adoption petition was filed. A legal guardian or custodian who fails to respond to a written consent request within sixty days, or whose refusal the court finds unreasonable, also loses the right to block the adoption.4Justia. Arkansas Code 9-9-207 – Persons as to Whom Consent Not Required
The Withdrawal Window After Consent
A biological parent who signs a consent has ten calendar days to change their mind by filing an affidavit with the circuit court clerk in the county where the adoption or guardianship petition will be filed. If the parent waives the standard ten-day window, that period shrinks to five calendar days. The clock starts on the later of two dates: when the consent is signed, or when the child is born. If the deadline falls on a weekend or legal holiday, the parent can file on the next business day.5Justia. Arkansas Code 9-9-209 – Withdrawal of Consent
Once a decree of adoption has been entered, consent cannot be withdrawn. The court may adjust the withdrawal period for a biological parent when a stepparent is adopting. For adoptive parents, the first ten days after a consent is signed carry real uncertainty, and that should be factored into any timeline.
Checking the Putative Father Registry
When the child’s mother was unmarried at the time of birth, the court must check Arkansas’s Putative Father Registry before granting a decree. The registry lets an unmarried man who believes he is the father of a born or unborn child register so he receives notice before the child is placed for adoption.6Arkansas Department of Health. Putative Father Registry A man can register any time before the petition is filed. Once the petition is on file, the court obtains a certified statement from the registry showing either the information on file about the child or confirming that no information exists.7Justia. Arkansas Code 9-9-224 – Child Born to Unmarried Mother
If a putative father appears on the registry, he must be served with notice under the Arkansas Rules of Civil Procedure. Confidential information about the adoptive parents and the child is removed from the notice before service. He then has the standard time under the civil rules to file a responsive pleading. Being listed does not by itself give him the power to block the adoption; if he failed to establish a significant relationship with the child before the petition was filed, the court can proceed without his consent.4Justia. Arkansas Code 9-9-207 – Persons as to Whom Consent Not Required
Home Study and Background Checks
Before a child can be placed in the petitioner’s home, Arkansas requires a home study conducted by a licensed child welfare agency or a licensed certified social worker. The study evaluates whether the home is suitable and includes a recommendation on whether to approve the petitioner as an adoptive parent.8Child Welfare Information Gateway. Completing Intercountry Adoptions Not Finalized Abroad – Arkansas
The home study must also include criminal background checks for the adoptive parents and every household member age eighteen and a half or older, excluding foster children in the home. Both a state-of-residence check and a national fingerprint-based FBI check are required. A child maltreatment registry check is required for all household members age fourteen and older, again excluding foster children, through the central registry in their state of residence. For international adoptions, the FBI fingerprint check already required by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services satisfies the federal background check requirement.
Home study costs vary with the agency and the complexity of the case, commonly running from several hundred to several thousand dollars.
The Hearing and the Decree
After the petition is filed and the home study is complete, the court holds a hearing. The judge reviews the petition, the home study report, the consent documentation, and any other evidence to determine whether the adoption is in the child’s best interest. The petitioner typically appears in person.
Arkansas courts can issue either an interlocutory (temporary) decree or a final decree of adoption. While in force, an interlocutory decree carries the same legal weight as a final decree. If an interlocutory decree is later vacated, it is treated as though it never existed, and the rights and status of everyone involved revert to their pre-decree positions.9Justia. Arkansas Code 9-9-215 – Effect of Decree of Adoption A final decree permanently establishes the parent-child relationship, gives the adopted child the same rights as a biological child of the adoptive parents (including inheritance), and terminates the biological parents’ legal ties to the child.
Getting a New Birth Certificate
Once a decree is entered, the Arkansas State Registrar of Vital Records creates a new birth certificate. It shows the actual city or county and date of birth but lists the adoptive parents. The new certificate replaces the original, which is sealed along with the adoption evidence; after that, the original can be accessed only by order of an Arkansas court or through specific statutory provisions.10Justia. Arkansas Code 20-18-406 – New Certificates The court, the adoptive parents, or the adopted person can request that no new certificate be issued, though this is uncommon.
Interstate and Tribal Cases Have Extra Rules
If the child is coming into Arkansas from another state or leaving Arkansas for one, the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children applies. Arkansas has enacted the ICPC, which requires both the sending state and the receiving state to approve the placement before the child physically moves.11Justia. Arkansas Code 9-29-201 – Text of Compact A standardized form (ICPC-100A) is filed with both states, the receiving state conducts its own home study, and the adoptive parents cannot cross state lines with the child until approval comes through. Approval typically takes two to six weeks.
If the child is an Indian child as defined by federal law, the Indian Child Welfare Act adds requirements that override conflicting state procedures. In any involuntary proceeding where the court knows or has reason to know an Indian child is involved, the party seeking adoption must notify the child’s parent or Indian custodian and the child’s tribe by registered mail with return receipt requested. No hearing on foster care placement or termination of parental rights can be held until at least ten days after the tribe receives notice, and the tribe can request up to twenty additional days to prepare.12Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 25 USC 1912 – Pending Court Proceedings ICWA also sets a placement preference hierarchy: a member of the child’s extended family, then other members of the child’s tribe, then other Indian families. A tribe can modify this order by resolution, and the court must follow the tribe’s preference as long as the placement is the least restrictive setting appropriate for the child’s needs.13Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 25 USC 1915 – Placement of Indian Children