Can I adopt my stepchild while my spouse is deployed from Florida?

Yes, you can start preparing a Florida stepparent adoption while your spouse is deployed. Your spouse's part in the case is the main thing to plan around, and the Circuit Court in your county decides how it is handled.

Your spouse's role. Florida's adoption statute addresses a married person adopting without the spouse joining the petition (Fla. Stat. § 63.042(2)). It says this can happen when the person being adopted is not that person's spouse and either the other spouse is a parent of the adoptee and consents, or the court excuses the spouse's failure to join or consent. Here, your spouse is the child's parent, so their written consent is the piece to plan around. Whether a deployment lets the court excuse anything is a question for the Circuit Court clerk in your county or an attorney.

Details to confirm with the clerk. Florida law on these points depends on the court, so ask the clerk before you file:

• How your spouse can sign or consent from a deployment location
• Whether your spouse must attend the hearing, or whether the court allows remote participation
• What the clerk's office needs in order to schedule your hearing around the deployment

What deployment does not change.

• Home study: Florida exempts stepparents from the home study (Fla. Stat. § 63.092), so no home visits need to happen while your spouse is away.
• Background checks: FDLE and FBI background checks are required.
• Putative Father Registry: Under Fla. Stat. § 63.054, the registry must be searched in each adoption proceeding, and a motion requests that search.
• The other parent: Under Fla. Stat. § 63.172, the adoption ends the other parent's rights and child support obligations at the same time. If the other parent is in the military, or if the case is contested or the other parent can't be found, talk to an attorney about that situation.