Does incarceration count as abandonment for adoption in Vermont?

Not automatically. Vermont's abandonment ground, 15A V.S.A. § 3-504, uses a 6-month period. Whether a parent's incarceration meets it depends on the facts of your family's situation, and the Probate Court decides that. Being in prison is not a label that settles the question either way.

What Vermont's law gives us to work with. The abandonment period is 6 months under 15A V.S.A. § 3-504. How the court treats a parent who is incarcerated, including what counts as contact from prison and whether a parent's circumstances change the analysis, is not something we can answer in general terms. The Probate Court clerk in your county or a Vermont family-law attorney can tell you how that point is handled for your situation.

What to gather now. Because abandonment is tied to a time period, dates matter. It helps to put together:

• The dates your child's other parent was incarcerated, and where.
• Any letters, cards, calls, visit requests or gifts, with dates, or a clear statement that there were none.
• Any child support, paid or unpaid.
• Any existing custody, parenting or support orders.

Abandonment is not the only path. If the other parent agrees to the adoption, the situation is different from one where they object. If you are not sure where your child's other parent stands, or you expect a contested case, speak with an attorney about that specific issue before you file.

Other Vermont requirements still apply.

• Court: Your petition is filed in the Probate Court. Vermont has 14 counties, and the right court is in your county.
• Residency: The residency requirement is 6 months, under 15A V.S.A. § 3-101(a)(1)-(2).
• Your child's consent: A child who is 14 or older must consent, under 15A V.S.A. § 2-401.
• Home study: For stepparent adoptions the home study is waived under 15A V.S.A. § 4-110(a).
• Termination: Termination of the other parent's rights is not a separate proceeding in Vermont.
• Timeline: Stepparent adoptions in Vermont typically take 3-6 months.

How we help. StepParent Adoption 360 is a document preparation service, not a law firm. You answer questions online, including the other parent's incarceration status and contact history. We then prepare the complete court document package for your county, and you file it yourself without an attorney. The cost is $349 for the first child and $99 for each additional child. Court-ready documents arrive within 24-48 hours after you finish the questions, and we back them with a 100% court acceptance guarantee. We have helped 87 Vermont families, and more than 34,000 families nationally since 2001.