Intercountry adoption includes completion of the adoption in the child's native country or in California. The adoption does not confer U.S. citizenship to the foreign-born child, and additional steps are necessary to fulfill requirements of federal immigration and naturalization laws. Click here to download. The process of adoption can be lengthy, but well worth the wait. Depending on the workload of the agency selected, it can take anywhere from six months to a year to complete an adoption family assessment.
Most adoptive placements occur one to several months after the family assessment has been approved.
Both the parent retaining custody and the other birth parent must consent to the adoption. Stepparent adoptions are handled exclusively by county government with no State agency involvement. Consents are signed before a county clerk, a probation officer or, if designated by the county board of supervisors, an employee of the county welfare department. The county board of supervisors may also designate either the probation department or the welfare department to make a study of the proposed adoption and report to the court. For information regarding step-parent adoption, contact your local probation department.