Can I adopt my stepchild who is a newborn or infant in Alabama?

Yes, if you are legally married to your baby's parent, you can pursue a stepparent adoption in Alabama. Alabama allows any legally married spouse to adopt their partner's child through the stepparent adoption process. The data we work from does not set a minimum age for the child, so if you wonder whether your baby's exact age affects when you can file, the Probate Court clerk in your county can confirm it.

Where you file: Your petition goes to the Probate Court in one of Alabama's 67 counties. Each petitioner must be an adult (19 or older) and a bona fide Alabama resident. Alabama has no minimum residency period (Ala. Code § 26-10E-5(e)(3)), so you do not have to wait a set number of months before filing.

Consent: Several kinds of consent come up in an infant case.

• The child: Alabama requires a child's own consent starting at age 14 (Ala. Code § 26-10E-7(a)(1)). A newborn or infant has no consent role in the process.
• Your spouse: Your spouse, the baby's parent, must consent to the adoption.
• The other parent: The filing includes either consent forms or grounds for implied consent. Alabama's abandonment period is 4 months (Ala. Code § 26-10E-9(a)(1), (a)(4)). Because a baby is so young, whether that period applies to your family depends on the facts, so ask the clerk or an attorney about your situation.

If the other parent is unknown or hard to find: Alabama allows personal service of the papers, or service by publication if the person's location is unknown. How this works in your case, especially if parentage is unclear or the adoption may be contested, is a question for the Probate Court clerk or an attorney.

Home study: Alabama does not waive the home study for stepparent adoptions (Ala. Code § 26-10E-26(2)). Plan for it, and ask the clerk how it is handled in your county.

Cost and timeline: Court filing fees in Alabama typically run $200-$350, and the total cost is typically under $1,000, compared with $3,000-$5,000+ for an attorney. A stepparent adoption usually takes 3-6 months.

Why many parents act early: Adopting a baby makes you the child's legal parent, which matters for things like medical decisions and insurance. After the adoption, the clerk can explain how the birth certificate is updated through the Alabama Center for Health Statistics.

How we help: StepParent Adoption 360 is a document preparation service, not a law firm. You answer questions online, and we prepare the complete court document package for your county. You then file it yourself without an attorney. The price is $349 for the first child and $99 for each additional child, and you receive court-ready documents within 24-48 hours after you finish the questions. We back this with a 100% court acceptance guarantee, and we have helped 811 Alabama families, and more than 34,000 families nationally since 2001.