Legal Question in Family Law in Pennsylvania

Can children who have 4 living grandparents be legally adopted by a great aunt in Pennsylvania?


Asked on 1/23/14, 1:14 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

Anyone can adopt anyone else generally. The question is not whether there are living grandparents.

First, adoption implies that the biological parental rights have been terminated, either by consent or involuntarily. Has this been done? Do the grandparents have custody of the children somehow? Unless they somehow have standing (having custody might give them standing) then I don't see why the grandparents are relevant.

The only questions for the court is whether termination of any parental relationship (if the parents do not consent) or any custodial relationship is proper and whether the great aunt would be a suitable person to adopt. There is usually a home study done - there might be somewhat less requirements if its a family member - its been awhile since i have researched the law on this. I would suggest that you may want to consult a family law attorney who specializes in adoptions so that he/she can review the situation and render an opinion. This is not the forum to really get into the details of the family dynamics. Each case is different and turns on its own unique facts and should be discussed in private with an attorney.

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Answered on 1/24/14, 10:27 pm


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