Can I adopt my stepchild if I'm in a same-sex marriage in Arkansas?

Yes. If you are legally married to your stepchild's parent, you can ask the Arkansas Circuit Court in your county to approve your stepparent adoption, and you follow the same steps as any other married stepparent. The adoption rules are in Arkansas Code Annotated Title 9, Chapter 9. They set out who may petition and what the court needs, and they describe the petitioner as a married person whose spouse is the child's parent, not by the spouses' gender.

What you will need to file:

• A Petition for Adoption
• Your spouse's written consent to the adoption
• Consent forms from the other legal parent, or grounds for the court to waive that consent
• The court filing fee, which typically runs $150-$300

How the main requirements work in Arkansas:

• Residency: Arkansas has no minimum residency period before you file (A.C.A. § 9-9-205(a)).
• Your stepchild's consent: A child who is 12 or older must consent to the adoption (A.C.A. § 9-9-206).
• The other parent: Arkansas uses a 12-month abandonment period when a parent has abandoned the child (A.C.A. § 9-9-207). Whether it applies depends on your family's facts.
• Home study: Arkansas waives the home study in stepparent adoptions (A.C.A. § 9-9-212).
• Timeline: Stepparent adoptions in Arkansas typically take 3-6 months.

Where you file: Your petition goes to the Circuit Court in the county where you live. That is true whether you are in Little Rock, Fort Smith, Fayetteville, Springdale, Jonesboro or one of Arkansas's other 75 counties. The clerk's office can confirm local filing details, hearing scheduling and anything your particular judge expects.

Situations that need individual attention: Some families have facts that go beyond the basics. The child may have a second legal parent who has not consented, the other parent may be unknown or hard to locate, or someone may object. Arkansas law on how those situations are handled should be confirmed with the Circuit Court clerk in your county or with an adoption attorney who can look at your specific facts. The same goes for questions about how your marriage or your child's birth records are treated in your paperwork. After the adoption, the Arkansas Department of Health Vital Records is the agency to ask