Adoptions in Illinois are governed by the Illinois Adoption Act. The Act covers all types of adoptions, including related adoptions (where one of the adoptive parents is related to the child by blood or marriage), non-related adoptions (where neither parent is related to the child being adopted), agency adoptions (adoptions made through state-licensed adoption agencies), and non-agency adoptions (adoptions made without the aid of an adoption agency). No matter what kind of adoption you are considering, the adoption proceeding requires a Petition for Adoption to be filed with and approved by an Illinois court. Paying someone to place a child for adoption is illegal in Illinois.
Illinois law applies whenever an adoption is to be finalized in Illinois. To be eligible to adopt a child, you must have lived in Illinois for at least six months before starting the adoption proceedings, be over 18 years of age, and not be under any other legal disability. If you are married, your spouse has to join you in the adoption proceeding. However, there is no rule that you must be married to adopt, or that same-sex partners cannot adopt children.
The adoption process is very involved, as you would expect for something so important. After the Petition for Adoption is filed, the parents seeking to adopt the child are thoroughly investigated. The court's representatives or state agencies will visit the adoptive parents' home to see that it is a fit environment for the child. This review, called a "home study," is required for almost every adoption and is quite thorough. In addition to having the home environment checked out, the adoptive parents have to provide a great deal of documentation, including their birth and marriage certificates, income tax returns, letters of recommendation, and personal references. Where the adoption is for a non-related child, a criminal background check is done on the adoptive parents.
In addition to considering the fitness of the adoptive parents, the child's birth parents usually are involved. Because many children are adopted only after their birth parents consent to give them up for adoption, a consent to adopt must be obtained, or the validity of a consent already given may have to be reviewed. The child's birth parents often are actively involved in finding suitable adoptive parents for the child. This involvement, called an "open adoption," can consist of anything from an exchange of letters and pictures to participation in the home study. Only after all of this information has been gathered and reviewed by the court is the adoption approved. In the best of cases, an adoption can take six months; in many cases, it will take longer.
Once a child is adopted, the records relating to the adoption are confidential and access to the documents usually requires a court order. However, the birth parents may consent to allow the adopted child access to information about themselves. Recent amendments to the Act allow adopted children the right to obtain certain information regarding his or her birth parents in all cases where it may be necessary to determine if he or she might be subject to a genetically based medical problem.
