People sometimes ask whether the birth family of an adoptive child has the right to visit that child in his or her new home. The birth parents do not have this right, unless it is part of their open adoption plan. An open adoption may include contact between the birth parents and the child as well as contact between adoptive parents and birth parents. Grandparents do not have visitation rights if their biological grandchildren are adopted. The siblings of an adopted child, however, are another matter.
Arkansas law allows adoption of one member of a group of siblings. If two brothers are together in foster care, one may be adopted while the other is not. A newborn up for adoption may have siblings already who are staying with their birth parents. A group of older siblings who lose their parents may end up in different adoptive homes. Under some circumstances, the siblings may have the right to spend time together. This is known as “sibling visitation.”
How does sibling visitation work?
The law says, “Sibling visitation shall not terminate if the adopted child was in the custody of the Department of Human Services and had a sibling who was not adopted by the same family and before adoption the circuit court in the juvenile dependency-neglect or families-in-need-of-services case has determined that it is in the best interests of the siblings to visit and has ordered visitation between the siblings to occur after the adoption.”
That’s a long sentence. You’ll note that it has some if-then sections:
- “if the adopted child was in the Department of Human Services” — in other words, if they were in foster care
- if the child had a sibling
- if there child was not adopted by the same person who adopted their sibling
- if before adoption the court “has determined that that it it is in the best interests of the siblings to visit”
- if before the adoption the court “has ordered visitation between the siblings to occur after the adoption.”
All these things must be true in order for sibling visitation to be required.
Are adopted kids still siblings?
You’ll notice that visitation rights for siblings come up only if the children were in foster care. What about adopting a newborn? Are the birth mother’s other children still the adopted child’d siblings?
Yes, they are. Legally, adoption ends the birth parents’ relationships with the child. The adoptive parents are legally the parents of the adopted child, just as if they were the biological parents But termination of parental rights does not change the sibling relationship. An adopted child’s brother or sister continues to be a brother or sister.
However, the law does not require sibling visitation except for children who have been in foster care. An open adoption could include a plan for siblings to maintain a relationship, but that is not a legal requirement. It is up to the parents and their adoption plan. If there are siblings involved, take some time to think about them and include them in the adoption plan to avoid conflict or uncertainty later.