Maryland Adoption: Requirements, Process, and Costs

Adoption in Maryland is a court-approved process that permanently transfers parental rights from a child’s birth parents to the adoptive parents. The Family Law Article of the Maryland Code sets out four pathways — public agency, private agency, independent, and stepparent or relative — and every finalized adoption requires a circuit court or juvenile court judge to find the placement serves the child’s best interests. What the process looks like for you depends heavily on which pathway fits your situation.

Who Can Adopt

Any adult who is not the child’s biological parent can petition to adopt in Maryland. Marital status does not matter. Single adults, unmarried partners, and married couples are all eligible to file. If you are married, your spouse generally must join the petition, with two exceptions: a spouse legally separated under circumstances that would give you grounds for annulment or divorce, and a spouse who lacks the legal competency to join.¹

The age floor depends on the pathway. For private agency and independent adoptions, any legal adult (18 or older) can petition. For foster care adoptions, prospective parents must be at least 21 and complete a minimum of 27 hours of specialized training before placement. There is no upper age limit, but when an applicant is 60 or older, the local department will assess whether the applicant has the physical capacity to meet a child’s daily needs.²

The Four Adoption Pathways

Public Agency Adoption

Public agency adoptions involve children in the custody of the Maryland Department of Human Services after parental rights have already been terminated. Most of these children come from the foster care system. An adoption can only be finalized after termination of parental rights, and once finalized the adoptive parents hold the same legal standing as if the child were born to them.³ This is the least expensive route, and many families qualify for ongoing adoption subsidies.

Private Agency Adoption

Private agency adoptions are handled by licensed child placement agencies that match birth parents with prospective adoptive families. These placements often involve infants whose birth parents voluntarily relinquish their parental rights. The agency manages the home study, counseling, and legal work under Subtitle 3A of the Family Law Article.⁴

Independent Adoption

In an independent adoption, birth parents and adoptive parents arrange the placement directly, without an agency in the middle. Court approval is still required, and the procedures sit in Subtitle 3B of the Family Law Article. A court may waive the investigation requirement for a consensual independent adoption, but it must order one for any contested petition.⁵ Consent revocation is the main risk here, and the 30-day window below is the reason.

Stepparent and Relative Adoption

When a stepparent or close family member formalizes an existing relationship with a child, the process is usually simpler. The court may waive the home study investigation and the formal hearing unless it finds good cause to require them.⁶ The child’s other biological parent must still consent, or have their rights terminated, before the adoption can proceed.

Consent and Revocation Windows

Consent is the legal cornerstone of every voluntary adoption, and the window to revoke it varies by pathway. Getting this wrong is the most common source of disrupted placements.

In an independent adoption, each living parent must consent in writing after the child is born. The consent must be given in a language the parent understands, include express notice of the right to revoke, and state whether the parent chose to have independent counsel and adoption counseling. A parent can revoke at any time within 30 days after signing. Once that window closes, consent becomes irrevocable.⁷

In a private agency adoption, the agency itself provides consent, because the birth parents previously relinquished their rights to the agency through a guardianship proceeding. The agency can revoke its consent within the later of 14 days after signing or 14 days after the adoption petition is filed. An agency may not withhold consent based solely on differences in race, religion, color, or national origin between the prospective parents and the child, or because a prospective parent has a disability.⁸

For any pathway, a child who is at least 10 years old must personally consent before the court can approve the placement. A child in that age group can revoke consent at any time before the court enters the final adoption order.⁸

Home Study and Background Checks

The home study assesses whether prospective parents can meet an adopted child’s needs. Maryland regulations require a licensed child placement worker to complete it within 90 days of receiving a signed application, extendable to 150 days with the applicant’s written consent.⁹

The worker conducts at least two interviews with the applicant, one of them in the home, plus separate interviews with every child age 10 or older and every adult living in the household. The evaluation covers motivation to adopt, ability to handle stress, parenting philosophy, relationship history, and the physical safety of the home. The record must also include a verified sanitation inspection from the local health department and a local fire department report.⁹

Federal law under the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act requires fingerprint-based criminal background checks through the National Crime Information Database before any prospective foster or adoptive parent receives final approval. States must also check child abuse and neglect registries in every state where the applicant and any other adult in the household have lived during the previous five years. Certain felony convictions permanently disqualify an applicant, including child abuse, crimes against children, sexual assault, and homicide. Felony convictions for physical assault, battery, or drug offenses disqualify an applicant if the offense occurred within the past five years.¹⁰

Stepparent and relative adoptions can be exempted from the home study investigation unless the court finds good cause to require one.⁶ In practice, many courts still order a background check even when they waive the full study.

The Court Process

Filing the Petition

The adoption petition is filed with the Clerk of the Circuit Court. A standard civil filing fee of $165 applies to most adoption cases. Adoptions resulting from a child in need of assistance (CINA) case where parental rights were already terminated carry no filing fee.¹¹ The petition includes the child’s name, your financial circumstances, and the legal basis for the adoption.

Show Cause Order and Notice

Shortly after filing, the court issues a show cause order, a formal notice giving interested parties a deadline to object. In public agency adoptions, the order must be served on each of the child’s living parents who has not consented, the parents’ last attorney of record in the CINA case, and the child’s last attorney of record.¹² Private agency and independent adoptions follow parallel requirements under their respective subtitles.¹³

If a parent cannot be located, the court can authorize service by publication: a notice placed in a newspaper in the county where the parent last lived and posted for at least 30 days on a Department of Human Services website. The notice warns the parent that failing to respond will result in the permanent loss of parental rights.

Hearing and Final Judgment

The court must hold a hearing before entering an adoption order.¹⁴ The judge reviews the home study, background check results, consent documentation, and any testimony to decide whether the adoption serves the child’s best interests. The court may appoint an attorney to represent the child’s legal interests during the proceedings.

If the judge approves, a Judgment of Adoption is entered. The child becomes a legal member of the adoptive family in every respect, the adoptive parents gain all parental rights, and the birth parents are permanently relieved of all parental duties and obligations. Inheritance rights follow the adoptive family under Maryland’s Estates and Trusts Article from that point forward.¹⁵

What It Costs

Costs vary enormously by pathway. Public agency adoptions through foster care are generally free or very low-cost, with the state covering most expenses. Private agency adoptions typically run from several thousand dollars to $40,000 or more, depending on the agency and the services involved. Independent adoptions fall somewhere in between, with attorney fees, home study fees, and birth parent expenses adding up.

Common expenses across pathways include:

Home study fees, typically $900 to $4,900, depending on the agency and complexity of the evaluation.
The court filing fee of $165, waived for adoptions arising from CINA or termination of parental rights proceedings.¹¹
Attorney fees ranging from a few thousand dollars for a straightforward stepparent adoption to $10,000 or more for contested cases.
Post-placement supervision, which some agencies include in the home study fee and others charge for separately.

Subsidies and the Federal Tax Credit

Families adopting children with special needs through the public system may qualify for monthly adoption assistance payments. Maryland’s state-funded subsidy helps defray the cost of raising children who are harder to place because of age, medical conditions, sibling group status, or other factors. The monthly payment cannot exceed the foster care payment the child’s foster parents were receiving, and payments for medically fragile children adopted by their treatment foster parents are capped at $2,000 per month.¹⁶

Children receiving state-funded adoption assistance also qualify for Medicaid, even when the monthly cash payment is set at $0. Assistance continues until the child turns 18, subject to annual redetermination confirming the family is still financially responsible and the child still meets the special needs criteria. The subsidy ends early if the child re-enters out-of-home placement, the adoptive parent no longer provides primary financial support, or parental rights are terminated.¹⁶

The federal government offers a nonrefundable tax credit for qualified adoption expenses. For the 2025 tax year, the maximum credit is $17,280 per eligible child. The credit phases out for taxpayers whose modified adjusted gross income exceeds $259,190 and disappears entirely above $299,190. These figures adjust annually for inflation, so check IRS guidance for the exact 2026 amounts when they become available.¹⁷

Qualified expenses include adoption fees, court costs, attorney fees, and travel expenses like meals and lodging related to the adoption. Expenses paid before an eligible child is identified, such as an initial home study fee, also qualify. The credit cannot be claimed for adopting a stepchild.¹⁷ Because the credit is nonrefundable, it can only reduce your tax liability to zero, and any unused credit carries forward for up to five years.

Adopting Across State Lines

Adopting a child from another state triggers the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children, a binding agreement among all 50 states. Maryland law requires every out-of-state placement, whether for foster care or as a preliminary step to adoption, to comply with the Compact before the child crosses state lines.¹⁸

The process runs in both directions. A Maryland family adopting a child from another state needs approval from the sending state’s ICPC office and Maryland’s Social Services Administration before the child can be placed. A child leaving Maryland for an adoptive family elsewhere needs approval from both states.¹⁸ Skipping the ICPC step is illegal and can jeopardize the entire adoption. The paperwork typically adds several weeks to the timeline, and that timeline varies by state.

After the Adoption Is Final

Once the court enters the Judgment of Adoption, the clerk sends a report of the decree to the Secretary of Health. The department then issues a new birth certificate listing the adoptive parents and reflecting any name change the court ordered.¹⁹ The original is sealed and replaced by the amended version. You do not need to petition the health department separately; the court’s decree triggers the process automatically.

Maryland is one of the states where post-adoption contact agreements are legally enforceable. Birth parents and adoptive parents can enter a written agreement for ongoing contact after finalization, and a court will enforce it as long as enforcement remains in the child’s best interests. If adoptive parents refuse to honor the agreement, birth parents can ask the court to enforce it, and the court can hold the adoptive parents in contempt. A violation can never be used as grounds to set aside the adoption itself. Courts also retain the power to modify or terminate the agreement if circumstances change and continued contact no longer serves the child.²⁰ Working out this kind of agreement before finalization is increasingly common and can reduce anxiety for birth parents considering voluntary placement.

Maryland has sealed adoption-related documents and original birth certificates since July 1, 1947. For adoptions finalized after January 1, 2000, access is somewhat easier: original and amended birth certificates may be issued to adoptees or birth parents once the adoptee turns 21, unless a disclosure veto is on file. A disclosure veto lets either party formally specify that contact should not be made, and vetoes can be rescinded if the person changes their mind. For adoptions finalized earlier, adult adoptees must petition the court for authorization to have the Maryland Department of Health release the original birth certificate.²¹

1
Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Code Family Law 5-331
2
AdoptUSKids. Maryland Foster Care and Adoption
3
Maryland Department of Human Services. Adoption and Foster Care Services
4
Maryland Department of Human Services. Maryland Family Law Code Ann. 5-3A-03 – Statement of Findings and Purposes
5
Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Code Family Law 5-3B-16 – Investigation
6
Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Code Family Law 5-3B-27 – Adoption of Stepchild or Child by Relative
7
New York Codes, Rules and Regulations. Maryland Code Family Law 5-3B-21 – Consent
8
Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Code Family Law 5-3A-35 – Authority to Grant Adoption
9
Cornell Law Institute. COMAR 07.05.03.11 – Home Study
10
American Public Human Services Association. Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006 – Summary of Child Welfare Provisions
11
Maryland Courts. Summary of Charges, Costs, and Fees of the Clerks of the Circuit Court
12
New York Codes, Rules and Regulations. Maryland Code Family Law 5-334 – Order to Show Cause
13
New York Codes, Rules and Regulations. Maryland Rules, Rule 9-105 – Show Cause Order
14
New York Codes, Rules and Regulations. Maryland Code Family Law 5-347 – Hearing on Adoption Petition
15
Maryland General Assembly. Maryland Code Family Law 5-352 – Effect of Order for Adoption
16
Cornell Law Institute. COMAR 07.02.12.06 – State-Funded Monthly Adoption Assistance
17
Internal Revenue Service. Understanding the Adoption Tax Credit
18
Library of Maryland Regulations. COMAR 07.02.11.28 – Out-of-State Placement
19
New York Codes, Rules and Regulations. Maryland Code Health – General 4-211 – New Birth Certificates
20
New York Codes, Rules and Regulations. Maryland Code Family Law 5-3B-07 – Agreement for Postadoption Contact
21
Maryland Department of Human Services. Search Contact and Reunion Services