Recent Updates to Illinois Adoption Law

O. Long Law, LLC operates a thriving adoption law practice, focusing on second-parent adoption cases. In 2024, several key updates to adoption laws have introduced changes that may impact prospective parents, adoptive families, and legal professionals alike. In this post, we will explore the most important legal changes in adoption law for the year ahead, offering insights into how these adjustments could affect your adoption journey.

Unfitness

Illinois courts heard several adoption cases involving the decision of whether to declare a parent unfit as a basis for terminating their parental rights, thereby allowing the adoption to move forward.

In re Adoption of G.B.C.

The Respondent biological parent appealed a trial court's decision to declare them unfit to parent. In the petition, the Petitioner alleged Respondent met five separate grounds of unfitness: habitual drunkenness, depravity, abandonment, failure to show concern, and failure to provide care. The appellate court held that the trial court erroneously found habitual drunkenness, but it upheld the findings of the other four grounds. This decision affirms that one error in a finding of unfitness shall not invalidate the judgment if the evidence supports a finding of unfitness above and beyond the erroneously decided ground.

In re Adoption of Hayden B.

A Mother and her husband filed a petition to adopt her son, claiming the Father was unfit. The court granted the petition. Father had been absent from the child's life for 12 years and was serving a 35-year prison sentence for murder and seven other felonies. The guardian ad litem recommended terminating Father's rights, noting his failure to show interest, communicate, or provide support for the child. A court may properly base a finding of depravity and parental unfitness on repeated incarcerations, regardless of other evidence demonstrating fitness.

In re Adoption of Scholes J.R.

Mother and maternal grandmother filed for the adoption of a child in 2020, seeking to terminate Father's parental rights due to his lack of involvement, felony convictions, and failure to support the child. The trial court ruled in Father's favor, finding he was fit to parent, and denied the adoption petition. The appellate court affirmed the trial court's decision, ruling that Father rebutted the presumption of depravity with evidence of rehabilitation. This clarifies the legal standard needed to prove unfitness if the other parent successfully rebuts the presumption of depravity by producing some evidence of rehabilitation.

Who Can Adopt in Illinois?

The Illinois Adoption Act provides that the individuals related to the child in the following ways may petition the court for adoption: parent, grandparent, great-grandparent, brother, sister, stepparent, step-grandparent, step-brother, step-sister, uncle, aunt, great-uncle, great-aunt, first cousin, or second cousin.

Conclusion

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