Stepchild adoption

Who can adopt stepchildren?

Stepchild adoption is when you adopt your partner's or spouse's child. This can apply to a child you have only met after becoming involved with their parent, or a child you have been co-parenting but were not legally recognised as a parent at the time of their birth. Once the adoption is complete, you gain legal recognition as the child's parent. After you have adopted the child, you become a legal parent.

Read more about being a legal parent here on the website.

Under the Adoption Act, cohabitation is defined as living in a marriage-like relationship for a continuous period of 2½ years.

Conditions

• Your family must have a stable cohabitation. As a general rule, the Agency of Family Law considers whether you have lived with the child and their parent for a continuous period of at least 2½ years at the time of application, provided the child is under 18 years of age.

The requirement for a specific length of cohabitation between the applicant and the child may be waived in certain situations, particularly in stepchild adoptions of very young children. This waiver can apply after a case-by-case assessment, especially when the child was planned together by the applicant and the parent. A deviation from the requirement will typically necessitate that there is a long and stable family life between the applicant and the child's parent. In this context, emphasis is placed on the duration of cohabitation before the child's birth and whether the couple already has one or more children together. An exemption for stepchild adoption can only be applied for three months after the child's birth.

It is possible to deviate from the requirement for stable cohabitation in exceptional circumstances, such as serious illness, where adoption cannot be delayed.

• There is an upbringing requirement when adopting a child under 18, meaning you must have lived or be able to live with the child for at least 3 years by the time they turn 18. For example, if the child is 17 years old and you have never lived with them, you will not be able to adopt them as a stepchild.
• You must be over 25 years old, and there must be a minimum age difference of 14 years between the applicant and the child.
• It is also a condition for adoption that no payment has been made or received for consent to adoption. Any payment related to a surrogacy agreement will be considered as payment for consent to adoption. However, each case will be evaluated individually based on the best interests of the child, meaning adoption may still be possible following an altruistic surrogacy agreement.

Read more about stepchild adoption on the Agency of Family Law’s website.