A very common type of adoption process in Florida is called a step parent adoption. Step parent adoption occurs when usually one of the parents, after a divorce, or a type of custody case has now remarried. So you can have the primary parents, such as mom who is now remarried, and her new spouse has taken a significant role in raising the children and wants to adopt the children as his own. So let me discuss a little bit about how a step parent adoption works.

There are two phases to a step parent adoption. The first phase is called a termination of parental rights and in that scenario, what the court has to determine is whether or not the biological parent has done something or not done something that would result in that parent losing all parental responsibilities. So if you have a parent who was ordered to pay child support, or was requested by a court in orders to be financially responsible for children and that parent has abandoned the children and not provided the children with support and a step parent can come in and provide that kind of support, the court may grant a request for a step parent adoption and terminate the biological parent's parental rights. Thereby making the children the responsibility of that step parent and it's a very rewarding process for a court to see that children are going to be taken care of by a step parent.