Adopting a child in Missouri is mostly a court process, and the court has a specific order it wants things done in. Here is that order in plain language, along with the parts that most often slow a case down.
How Do You Adopt a Child in Missouri?
To adopt a child in Missouri you file a petition in the juvenile division of the circuit court, the court appoints a guardian ad litem for the child, consents are filed or excused, a home study is completed or waived, custody transfers by court order if it needs to, and the judge enters the adoption decree after the child has lived with you for at least six months.
Those six steps in order.
- File a petition for adoption in the juvenile division of the circuit court, along with a signed and verified accounting of adoption related payments.
- The court assigns a judge and appoints a guardian ad litem for the child.
- Consents are obtained and filed, or the court finds that a particular parent’s consent is not required.
- A full investigation, which most people call a home study, is completed unless the court waives it.
- If custody still has to change hands, the court holds a transfer of custody hearing and enters an order.
- Once the child has been in your lawful and actual custody for at least six months, the court holds the final hearing and enters the adoption decree.
The type of adoption changes how much work each step takes, not the order of the steps. A stepparent adoption and a private infant adoption follow the same statutory path.
Where Do You File an Adoption Case in St. Louis?
You file in the juvenile division of the circuit court, and Missouri gives you four choices of county.
RSMo 453.010 says any person who wants to adopt “shall petition the juvenile division of the circuit court.” You can file where the adopting person resides, where the child was born, where the child is located when the petition is filed, or where either birth parent resides. The statute also protects you on venue, saying a petition “shall not be dismissed or denied on the grounds that the petitioner is not domiciled or does not reside” in one of those places.
For most families here that means the St. Louis County Family Court in Clayton, the City of St. Louis circuit court, or the St. Charles County circuit court. The statute also tells courts to “hear such petition in a timely fashion,” but it sets no deadline, so scheduling comes down to the individual court’s docket.
What Has to Be Filed With the Adoption Petition?
Along with the petition, Missouri requires a signed and verified accounting of every dollar spent in connection with the adoption, filed at the same time.
RSMo 453.075 requires “a signed and verified full accounting of any money, anything of value or other consideration paid or transferred by or on behalf of the petitioner in connection with the placement or adoption.” The statute breaks it into categories, including hospital and medical expenses, counseling, preplacement assessments, legal expenses, reasonable living expenses, and other services the court approves.
This catches people off guard. It is not a formality and it is not filed later. It goes in with the petition, and the statute attaches consequences if the accounting shows an impropriety.
Who Has to Consent to an Adoption in Missouri?
Consent is usually the part of an adoption that decides how hard the case will be.
Under RSMo 453.030, written consent has to be filed and made part of the record. That generally means the mother, a man who is presumed or has been established to be the father, and any current adoptive parents or other legally recognized parents.
Two details matter more than people expect.
- A child who is old enough gets a say. Written consent from the person being adopted is required “in all cases where the person sought to be adopted is fourteen years of age or older, except where the court finds that such child has not sufficient mental capacity to give the same.”
- A birth mother’s consent has a waiting period. It “shall not be executed anytime before the child is forty-eight hours old.”
When Is a Parent’s Consent Not Required?
Missouri lists eight situations where a parent’s consent is not needed, and most of them route through the termination of parental rights statute rather than a simple calendar count.
RSMo 453.040 covers a parent whose rights have already been terminated, a parent whose identity is unknown and cannot be ascertained, a man who has not been established and is not presumed to be the father and who signs a verified statement denying paternity, a parent who is properly served and then never answers or appears, a parent with a qualifying permanent mental condition, and a parent who has abandoned the child as abandonment is defined in RSMo 211.447.
That last one is where stepparent cases usually live, and it is worth being honest about it. The standard sits in the termination statute, not in a tidy number of days, and it takes evidence. Anyone who tells you an absent parent’s consent is automatically excused after a set period of silence is skipping a step.
Does the Court Appoint a Guardian ad Litem?
Yes, and in Missouri it is not optional when the person being adopted is a child.
RSMo 453.025 says the court shall, “in all cases where the person sought to be adopted is under eighteen years of age, appoint a guardian ad litem.” If a parent is a minor or is incompetent, the court appoints a guardian ad litem for that parent too.
The guardian ad litem is the child’s legal advocate, with authority to cross examine, subpoena witnesses and offer testimony, and a duty to “ascertain the child’s wishes, feelings and attitudes regarding the adoption.” Our guardian ad litem page walks through what that role looks like day to day. The court sets the fee, and it can be ordered paid by the parties.
Is a Home Study Required to Adopt in Missouri?
Usually yes, and stepparents often get the home study waived, but never the background check.
RSMo 453.070 says no adoption decree for a child under eighteen is entered “until a full investigation, which includes an assessment of the adoptive parents” is complete. The court can direct that work to the Children’s Division, a juvenile court officer, a licensed child placement agency, a social worker, a professional counselor, or a licensed psychologist.
The assessment covers “a report on the condition of the petitioner’s home and information on the petitioner’s education, financial, marital, medical and psychological status and criminal background check.”
Here is the part stepparents care about. Where the child is the natural child of one of the petitioners and everyone required to consent has consented, “the juvenile court may waive the investigation and report, except the criminal background check.” The background check survives the waiver every time.
There is also a second assessment later. RSMo 453.077 requires a postplacement assessment once the child has been placed with you for six months.
How Long Does an Adoption Take in Missouri?
The honest answer is that the six month custody requirement sets the floor, and no Missouri statute puts a deadline on the hearing itself.
RSMo 453.080 lets the court finalize only after the child “has been in the lawful and actual custody of the petitioner for a period of at least six months prior to entry of the adoption decree.” There is one waiver. The six months can be excused where the child is under the prior and continuing jurisdiction of a court under chapter 211 and the adopting parent is the child’s current foster parent.
What that means in practice.
- In a stepparent adoption the child has usually already lived with you for years, so the six months is satisfied long before you file and the case moves at whatever pace the court’s docket allows.
- In an adoption that starts with a transfer of custody, expect a transfer hearing first, then the six month period, then the final hearing.
- Contested consent is what actually stretches a case, not the paperwork.
We will not give you a week count at the first meeting, because the court’s calendar and the consent posture drive it, and a number we invent is worse than no number at all.
Can Custody Be Transferred Without Going to Court?
No, and in Missouri doing it anyway is a felony.
RSMo 453.110 says no person, agency, organization or institution shall surrender or transfer custody of a minor child, and no one shall take charge of a child so transferred, “without first having filed a petition before the circuit court sitting as a juvenile court of the county where the child may be” and obtaining an order approving the transfer. Violating it is a class E felony.
The statute does leave room for ordinary arrangements. Placing a child with someone for care is not a transfer if the right to supervise that care and resume custody is retained, and placement in a licensed foster home through an approved agency as part of adoption preparation is handled separately.
If a family has already moved a child informally, that is worth raising with a lawyer early rather than at the final hearing.
Who Can Help With an Adoption in St. Louis?
Adoption is one of the friendlier corners of family law, and most of the work is getting the sequence and the consents right the first time.
Bardol Law Firm practices only family law, and we handle adoptions in the St. Louis County, St. Louis City and St. Charles courts. Depending on your situation you may want to start with stepparent adoption or with the broader adoption practice page. Our other family law questions and answers cover the rest of what comes up.
Tell us which type of adoption you are looking at and we will tell you plainly what the court will need and in what order. Every client gets a named paralegal on the file, and we generally return calls within one business day. Call 314.918.0100 or reach us through our contact page. Family Law, Simplified. Fill out the form or call to set up a consultation.
This page is general information about Missouri law and is not legal advice. Every case turns on its own facts. The choice of a lawyer is an important decision and should not be based solely upon advertisements.