We all know that Arkansas is a special place…but wouldn’t it make sense to have the same laws about adoption in every state? Sometimes people in one state adopt a child born in another state. Sometimes people share information in an online forum or social media group and readers get confused when it doesn’t apply to their states. Shouldn’t something this important be uniform across the nation? What’s up with Arkansas adoption laws?
The big reason for the differences
The 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution says that anything not covered in the Constitution, which is the basic national law for our country, should be up to the states. This is the foundation of the idea of states’ rights. Each state is sovereign, and we are federated together to form the United States of America. Pretty stirring, right?
The idea was not only that the Constitution wouldn’t cover everything that might come up in the future, which has certainly turned out to be true, but also that the states all have different needs and wants and natures. What might be perfect for Maine wouldn’t necessarily be the best idea for Arizona. So each state gets to make its own decisions about issues that aren’t covered in the Constitution.
Adoption was not mentioned in the Constitution at all. The first modern adoption law in the United States was passed in Massachusetts in 1851. There is a legal record of an adoption in the U.S. nearly two centuries earlier, before the writing of the Constitution, so it is not that adoption didn’t exist or the founding fathers weren’t aware of it, but they didn’t include it in the essential law of the land.
Therefore, it is up to the states.
What’s special about Arkansas adoption laws?
Different states have different priorities. Arkansas is an adoption-friendly state with laws that make adoption easier than in many other states. Some states make it more difficult. There are states that don’t allow owners of some breeds of dogs to adopt, for example, and states that don’t allow teens to adopt. Some special Arkansas adoption laws include the fact that a married woman’s husband is automatically the legal father of her baby, which can complicate adoption consent in some cases, and the fact that Arkansas doesn’t allow unmarried couple to adopt a child together.
This is really the most important takeaway if you aren interested in adopting in Arkansas: you must have an Arkansas adoption attorney. General advice in a community forum or the opinion of your lawyer cousin in New York will not provide enough information for you to make informed decisions about the process.
Heimer Law is an Arkansas law firm specializing in adoption.
Attempts at a uniform law
There have been attempts to create a uniform law which, while it doesn’t make adoption laws the same from one state to another, will at least simplify the process of adopting across state lines. If someone wants to adopt a niece in another state who has lost her parents, the process should not be so difficult that it adds to the trauma of the situation.
A law called the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children (ICPC) makes sure that an adoption involving two states who have opted in will be fully legal for the adoptive parents, the child, and the birth parents. This doesn’t apply in all states, but it is a start.
There have also been efforts to make a uniform adoption law that all states could use, but these have not been as successful. l
After all, if we can’t all agree on Daylight Savings Time or an official language, it’s not likely that all eh states would agree on something as important as adoption laws.
When you are considering an adoption in Arkansas, Heimer Law can help. We offer a free consultation.
Inquiry Form