Stepchild adoption: requirements and procedure

Until now, stepchildren could only be adopted and legally treated as your biological children if you and your partner were married. However, on March 26, 2019, the Federal Constitutional Court passed a draft law on stepchild adoption in non-marital families. “The Federal Constitutional Court saw the exclusion of stepchild adoption in non-marital families as a violation of the general principle of equal treatment and therefore declared it unconstitutional,” the explanation reads. The legislature is now obliged to make a new constitutional regulation by March 31, 2020. If you and your partner live in a stable partnership, i.e. you have lived together in a marriage-like partnership for at least four years, there is nothing to be said against adopting the stepchild in the future.

Reasons for stepchild adoption

As a stepmother or stepfather , you are not related to your partner’s child, nor do you have custody of it. You are only legally related by marriage to him. This means that you both have the right to refuse to give evidence, but no relationship of custody, maintenance or inheritance to each other. Due to the right of co-determination according to § 1687b of the German Civil Code (BGB), it is only possible for you to have a say in the matters of daily life for your stepchild with the consent of your spouse. A stepchild adoption is particularly relevant if…

• the child has had no contact with the separated parent for years.
• the other biological parent has died.
• the other biological parent is unknown.
• the child is to be placed on an equal footing with their own children or with their children in terms of inheritance and maintenance law.

Prerequisite for stepchild adoption

• First and foremost, adoption must be in the best interests of the child. The stepchild adoption must improve the overall living conditions for the child. Economic reasons alone are not enough.
• You must be at least 21 years old for stepchild adoption. The age difference between you and the child should correspond to a natural parent-child relationship and should therefore not be more than 40 years.
• You and your partner must have been married to each other for at least one year before the stepchild adoption or have been living together in a stable partnership for at least four years.
• The child must have been living with you for at least a year and there must be a parent-child relationship between you two.
• The child must agree. For stepchild adoption, it is essential that the child is informed about the current situation and its origin. In the case of children under the age of 14, consent to adoption is given by the legal representative. If the child is older than 14 years, it must consent to the adoption in a notarized form.
• Both biological parents must agree. Both your partner and the biological parent who lives separately from your adopted child must agree to the stepchild adoption. The other biological parent must also have the so-called “release for adoption” notarized. With this release, the child is legally and irrevocably taken from him. In addition, any legal relationship between the child and the relinquishing parent and his or her family also expires.

Process of stepchild adoption

If you are considering adopting a stepchild, you can first contact the adoption agency at your responsible youth welfare office. The staff will advise and inform you about the requirements and the process of adopting a stepchild. As a next step, you should visit a notary, because he will submit the adoption application to the local family court for you. You must enclose the following documents with the application for stepchild adoption:

• Stepchild’s birth certificate
• Stepchild’s family register
• marriage certificate
• health certificate
• Extended Police Clearance Certificate
• Income certificate

The court then turns back to the adoption agency. She is tasked with questioning the individual family members. During the interviews, the employees check whether the adoption decision is in the best interest of the child. This is to rule out that you are primarily striving for the stepchild adoption for the sake of your partner. In addition, you and your partner must each fill out a questionnaire and a life report. The latter must contain information about one’s own childhood, the relationship with one’s own parents, the existing marriage and leisure activities.

During the stepchild adoption process, the adoption agency also contacts the parent living outside the family and gives them the opportunity to write about the adoption. If he agrees to the stepchild adoption, he can explain his situation and the reasons for his decision to have the child in writing. The adoption files are kept until the child’s 60th birthday and can be viewed when the child turns 16.

To ensure that the procedure is complete, the court finally hears the youth welfare office. In accordance with Section 194 of the “Act on Proceedings in Family Matters and Matters of Voluntary Jurisdiction” (FamFG), the employees of the adoption agency give their professional opinion on the case.

If the stepchild adoption was successful, the decision goes to the local registry office. After the entry in the family register, the child’s birth certificate is changed. It is then no longer evident from this that it is an adopted child. Only the family register gives information about where the child came from.