Single Parent Adoption
Today I received a call from a single mother who expressed an interest to adopt. In Utah, single parent adoption is contemplated in the law. This single mother explained that she has one child but does not have significant financial resources.
One of the factors that is looked at by an adoption study evaluator and the courts is the prospective adoptive parent’s ability to financially support the prospective adoptive child. The single mother I spoke to remained anonymous, and I did not gather her specific financial situation and condition. I discussed the fact that there are generally three methods of adoption: private agency adoptions; private adoptions (where a prospective adoptive parent finds an available child to adopt, to include a stepparent adoption); and public agency adoptions (from state foster care). Private agency adoptions tend to cost quite a bit of money. Private adoptions are much less expensive, but more difficult because the prospective adoptive parent must find an eligible prospective adoptive child on their own, and people are generally not just giving their children away. Public agency adoptions cost the prospective adoptive parents time, but general enough money, as the state agency will provide the training for the prospective adoptive parent to become a foster parent, pay them when a foster child is place their home, and pay for any home studies, reasonable court costs and reasonable attorney fees as necessary.
Because I gathered that this single mother likely does not have the financial resources, I referred her to the Utah Foster Care Foundation for more information with regards to how to become a foster/adoptive parent, training and other resources.