Can both my spouse and I adopt each other's children from prior relationships in Washington?

Yes. In Washington, you can adopt your spouse's child as a stepparent, and your spouse can adopt your child the same way, so both of you end up as legal parents to every child in your blended family. Each adoption is its own stepparent adoption, filed in the Superior Court of the county where your family lives.

What each adoption involves:

• Adopter eligibility: Any legally competent person who is 18 or older may be an adoptive parent (RCW 26.33.140(2)). This applies to each of you.
• Residency: Washington has no minimum residency period (RCW 26.33.030).
• Background checks: Washington requires criminal background checks for adoptive parents, so expect this for each of you.
• Child's consent: A child who is 14 or older must consent (RCW § 26.33.160). Younger children have no consent requirement from the child.
• The other parent of each child: The other legal parent either consents or the court finds abandonment (RCW § 26.33.120). Washington sets no fixed number of months for abandonment. The court looks at the parent's overall conduct. If a parent objects or can't be located, that depends on your facts, so ask the Superior Court clerk or an attorney about that specific issue.
• Home study: It is not automatically waived (RCW 26.33.220). Washington allows courts to waive it in some stepparent adoptions, so ask the clerk whether it applies to each of your children.

Filing together or separately: Because each spouse is adopting a different child, how your county's clerk handles two petitions can vary. That includes whether they are filed together, whether the filings are combined, and how the fees are charged. The clerk in your county can confirm this before you file.

Timeline and cost: Stepparent adoptions in Washington typically take 3-6 months. Court filing fees generally run $200-$500, and the total typical cost is under $1,000 when you prepare the paperwork yourself, compared with $3,000-$5,000+ with an attorney. The clerk can confirm how fees apply when two adoptions are filed.

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