Hi, I had a question in regards to private adoption. My husband and I have a friend of our that want's us to adopt their twin girls when they're born and we would love to, because we can't have kids. We have no idea about what this would take. We would like to get an idea about what we'll have to do, if it would be possible, how much it would cost, and all that. We live in different states. She lives in Texas and we live in Arkansas. Thank you in advance.
This can certainly be done but it will take a good bit of work. First, before you can adopt any child, you'll need to have a home study done. This costs around $1,000-1,500. It will include interviews of you and your spouse, criminal background checks, an inspection of your home to make sure it is safe for children, etc. The social worker that does the study will make a recommendation as to whether or not you should be able to adopt. An issue that also will be addressed is whether or not you and your spouse will be able to handle the adoption of twins. Once the home study is done and approved (and in this case, approved for twins), the next issue to work on is getting consent of the birth mother and birth father (if known). Each state has different rules on how and when consent is executed. The rules also differ by state on whether consent is required from the birth father. Assuming you get the consents worked out, the other issue you are going to deal with is the fact that this is an interstate adoption. If the babies are born in Texas, the Texas ICPC office (Interstate Compact on placement of children) will have to approve the removal of the babies from the state and the Arkansas ICPC office will have to approve the move too. It's important to note that you can't leave Texas with the babies until both states approve the ICPC paperwork. Once the ICPC process is done, the finalization of the adoption in Arkansas is not that complicated. A petition is filed which includes the home study, the consents, and the ICPC paperwork and then you set it for a hearing. Good luck to you. You definitely need to hire an attorney to handle this and in fact, may need to hire an attorney in Texas to work with the mother to get the consents drawn up and executed and the ICPC paperwork done and submitted. Then you will need an Arkansas attorney to finalize the adoption. As to cost, each state varies. I would guesstimate that the Texas adoption attorney would probably cost between $3,000-$5,000 and you can get an uncontested adoption finalized in Arkansas for about $1,500-$2,500 (since there are two children). Good luck to you.
