An adoption in South Carolina is a two-step process. The first stage of the process is the termination of the parental rights of the biological parents and any legal father of the minor child.
The second stage of the adoption is creating the legal relationship of parent and child between the adoptive parents and the minor child.
When you hear about an adoption action or an adoption case, it typically is referring to the lawsuit brought by the adoptive parents in which they seek both the termination the parental rights and the adoption. Although there are situations where the termination of parental rights and the adoption are done in two separate lawsuits, South Carolina law typically allows adoptive parents to file one lawsuit to address both the request for termination of parental rights and the request to adopt.
Two separate lawsuits are most common in cases where DSS has custody of the child because he/she was abused or neglected by the parents and they file an action for the sole purpose of terminating the rights of the parents to the child.
In order to terminate the parental rights of a biological mother, biological father or legal father, a couple who wants to adopt the minor child must show to a court two key facts. The first fact is that there is a legal ground for terminating the parental rights of the parent (TPR). There are currently eleven different grounds for terminating the parental rights of a biological or legal parent. The most commonly used grounds in a TPR action are (1) the parent’s failure to visit with the child for more than six months, (2) the parent’s failure to support the child for more than six months, (3) the parent’s failure to complete a DSS treatment plan and (4) the parent suffers from diagnosable condition, typically a drug addition or mental health condition, which prevents them from being able to provide a minimal level of care for the child. Once the adoptive parents are able to show to a court a legal ground for terminating a parent’s rights, the second fact that they must show to a court is that terminating that parent’s rights is in the child’s best interests.
A biological or legal parent of a child can give up or relinquish their rights to their child. If they are willing to do so, they must sign a Consent and Relinquishment for Adoption form. A Consent and Relinquishment for Adoption form is simply a document in which the parent voluntarily gives up any rights and obligations to the child up and consents to the Family Court granting an adoption of that child by another family.
Terminating the parental rights of all the biological parents and the legal father is a necessary precursor to being able to adopt the child. Terminating a parent’s rights to their child requires that the parent either voluntarily relinquish their rights to the child or that the Family Court take away their rights to the child.
Once all the parental rights of the biological mother, biological father and legal father have been terminated, then the hopeful adoptive parents must show to the court that creating the legal relationship of parent and child between them and the child is in the child’s best interests.
If an adoptive couple can convince a family court judge that (1) there is a legal basis to terminate the parental rights of the parents, (2) that the termination of parental rights is in the child’s best interests and (3) that creating a new parent and child relationship between the child and the hopeful adoptive parents is in the best interests of the child, then an adoption will be granted.