Practice Area · Family Law
An intrafamily adoption is different from an agency adoption or a private adoption. It's a stepparent, a grandparent, or another close relative asking a Louisiana court to formally adopt a child they are often already raising — not a stranger being matched with a child through a licensed adoption agency, and not an independent placement arranged between a birth parent and an unrelated adoptive family. Louisiana's Children's Code sets out its own chapter of rules for exactly this situation: who may petition, what has to happen before filing, how consent and background checks work, and how the case moves from filing to a final decree.
Not Agency. Not Private.
Agency adoptions and private (independent) adoptions are built around matching a child with an adoptive parent who is not already part of the child's family. An intrafamily adoption starts from the opposite place: the petitioner is already a relative — often the person already raising the child day to day. Because of that, Louisiana's Children's Code gives intrafamily adoptions their own chapter, with its own eligibility rules, its own timeline, and its own procedures for consent and opposition.
"The provisions of this Chapter govern intrafamily adoptions and take precedence when in conflict with another provision of this Title." In other words, where the general adoption rules elsewhere in the Children's Code would conflict with the intrafamily-specific rules, the intrafamily rules control.
The rest of this page walks through that intrafamily-specific chapter — who qualifies to petition, what has to be true before you can file, how consent and background checks work, notice and the right to oppose, and how a case proceeds from hearing to final decree.
Eligibility
Not just anyone related to a child can file an intrafamily adoption petition — the Children's Code specifies exactly which relatives qualify, and what has to be true about their relationship with the child before they can ask a court to adopt.
A stepparent, stepgrandparent, great-grandparent, grandparent, or a collateral relative within the twelfth degree may petition — but only if that person is related to the child by blood, adoption, or affinity through the child's mother, or through a father who is legally filiated to the child.
La. Ch.C. art. 1243(A)(1)
The petitioner must be either a single person over the age of eighteen, or a married person whose spouse joins as a co-petitioner. And the petitioner must have had legal or physical custody of the child for at least six months before the petition is ever filed.
La. Ch.C. art. 1243(A)(2)–(3)When the spouse of a stepparent, or one of two joint petitioners, dies after the petition has already been filed, the adoption proceeding can continue as though the survivor had always been a single original petitioner.
La. Ch.C. art. 1243(B)(1)Where a grandparent petitions alongside a stepgrandparent spouse, that spouse may file an authentic act asking that the blood-relative grandparent be allowed to proceed as sole petitioner — and any court of competent jurisdiction may grant the adoption accordingly, subject to the background check required of every petitioner.
La. Ch.C. art. 1243(B)(2) & 1243.2Protecting The Child
Before a court will grant an intrafamily adoption, the law requires a records check on the petitioner, and it addresses when a parent's consent is needed — and when it can be dispensed with entirely.
Upon filing, the court must immediately order a records check of every prospective adoptive parent: a criminal-history check through the local sheriff or the Louisiana Bureau of Criminal Identification and Information (with fingerprints submitted), and a check with the department for any validated complaints of child abuse or neglect in Louisiana or any other state where the petitioner has been domiciled since becoming an adult. A certificate reporting the results is provided to the court.
A parent may execute an authentic act consenting to the intrafamily adoption of their child, including waiving service or notice of any later proceeding. If the parent of a child born during the marriage is married to the stepparent petitioner and signs that consent, they need not join in the petition or be served with a copy of it. A parent of a child born outside marriage who is married to the petitioning spouse must join in the petition.
A parent's consent can be dispensed with on clear and convincing evidence that, for at least six months, that parent refused or failed — without just cause — to comply with a support order, or refused or failed to visit, communicate, or attempt to communicate with the child, while the petitioner held custody granted by a court of competent jurisdiction.
Due Process
A parent whose rights haven't already been terminated, and who hasn't already consented, has to be notified — and given a real chance to be heard before an intrafamily adoption can be finalized.
Unless notice has been waived, the clerk of court issues and serves notice of the filing, along with a copy of the petition, on every parent whose consent is required and whose rights haven't been terminated. The notice must explain, in plain terms, that consent can be dispensed with, that parental rights can be permanently lost, that the parent must file a written opposition within fifteen days or lose the right to object, and that the parent has the right to hire an attorney or ask the court to appoint one if they cannot afford one.
La. Ch.C. art. 1247A parent whose rights haven't been terminated and who hasn't already consented may oppose the adoption by filing a clear, written answer or opposition within fifteen days of being served. Once an opposition is filed, the court must appoint an attorney to represent the child, and costs of that representation are taxed as court costs.
La. Ch.C. art. 1244.1Intervention by someone other than the parties isn't automatic — it requires a motion to the court and a showing of good cause, and it's limited to a person with a substantial caretaking relationship with the child of a year or longer, or another person the court finds to be a genuine party in interest. Even then, intervention is limited to presenting evidence on the child's best interests.
La. Ch.C. art. 1254The Final Steps
Once the petition and any opposition are on file, Louisiana law sets a timeline for the hearing itself, and spells out exactly what a final decree of intrafamily adoption does and doesn't change.
The court must hear the petition within sixty days if there's no opposition, or ninety days if there is, with limited extensions for good cause. At the hearing, the court considers any motion to intervene, the department's confidential report if one exists, any criminal-history report on the petitioner (a criminal record alone is not automatic grounds to deny the adoption), any validated abuse or neglect complaints, and the testimony of the parties. If the child is twelve or older, the court must solicit and consider the child's own wishes.
After considering information from every source, the court may enter a final decree of adoption or deny it — the basic consideration is always the best interests of the child. Where a grandparent, or a parent married to the stepparent petitioner, has already been granted custody, the law creates a rebuttable presumption that the adoption is in the child's best interests.
A final decree relieves the child's other parent and blood relatives of all legal duties toward the child, including inheritance rights, going forward — except that if the adoptive parent is married to a blood parent of the child, that blood parent's relationship to the child is unaffected. The child keeps the right to inherit from their parents and blood relatives even after the adoption.
The child's full name may be changed in the final decree of intrafamily adoption, and if it is changed, the child's surname becomes the same as the adoptive parent's.
Whether you're a stepparent who has raised your spouse's child for years, or a grandparent stepping in to give a grandchild stability, Scott Hawkins can walk you through eligibility, the paperwork, and what to expect at every stage — from filing through final decree.