Title 26 — Title 26 DOMESTIC RELATIONS

The legislature finds that the purpose of adoption is to provide stable homes for children. Adoptions should be handled efficiently, but the rights of all parties must be protected. The guiding principle must be determining what is in the best interest of the child. It is the int…

Unless the context clearly requires otherwise, the definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter.(1) "Adoptee" means a person who is to be adopted or who has been adopted.(2) "Adoptive parent" means the person or persons who seek to adopt or have adopted an adoptee.(3…

(1) A petition under this chapter may be filed in the superior court of the county in which the petitioner is a resident or of the county in which the adoptee is domiciled.(2) A petition under this chapter may be consolidated with any other petition under this chapter. A hearing …

(1)(a) Every petition filed in proceedings under this chapter shall contain a statement alleging whether the child is or may be an Indian child as defined in RCW 13.38.040. If the child is an Indian child, chapter 13.38 RCW shall apply.(b) Every order or decree entered in any pro…

(1) An adoption shall not be delayed or denied on the basis of the race, color, or national origin of the adoptive parent or the child involved. However, when the department or an agency considers whether a placement option is in a child's best interests, the department or agency…

Any consent, relinquishment, or order of termination that would be valid in the jurisdiction in which it was executed or obtained, and which comports with due process of law, is valid in Washington state, but the burden of proof as to validity and compliance is on the petitioner.…

All hearings under this chapter shall be heard by the court without a jury. Unless the parties and the court agree otherwise, proceedings of contested hearings shall be recorded. The general public shall be excluded and only those persons shall be admitted whose presence is reque…

(1) The court shall appoint a guardian ad litem for any parent or *alleged father under eighteen years of age in any proceeding under this chapter. The court may appoint a guardian ad litem for a child adoptee or any incompetent party in any proceeding under this chapter. The gua…

(1) A parent, an *alleged father, the department, or an agency may file with the court a petition to relinquish a child to the department or an agency. The parent's or *alleged father's written consent to adoption shall accompany the petition. The written consent of the departmen…

(1) The court shall set a time and place for a hearing on the petition for relinquishment. The hearing may not be held sooner than forty-eight hours after the child's birth or the signing of all necessary consents to adoption, whichever is later. However, if the child is an India…

(1) A petition for termination of the parent-child relationship of a parent or *alleged father who has not executed a written consent to adoption may be filed by:(a) The department or an agency;(b) The prospective adoptive parent to whom a child has been or may be relinquished if…

(1) The court shall set a time and place for a hearing on the petition for termination of the parent-child relationship, which shall not be held sooner than forty-eight hours after the child's birth. However, if the child is an Indian child, the hearing shall not be held sooner t…

(1) Except in the case of an Indian child and his or her parent, the parent-child relationship of a parent may be terminated upon a showing by clear, cogent, and convincing evidence that it is in the best interest of the child to terminate the relationship and that the parent has…

(1) If the court determines, after a hearing, that the parent-child relationship should be terminated pursuant to RCW 26.33.090 or 26.33.120, the court shall enter an appropriate order terminating the parent-child relationship.(2) An order terminating the parent-child relationshi…

(1) Any person may be adopted, regardless of his or her age or residence.(2) Any person who is legally competent and who is eighteen years of age or older may be an adoptive parent.[ 1984 c 155 s 14.]

(1) An adoption proceeding is initiated by filing with the court a petition for adoption. The petition shall be filed by the prospective adoptive parent.(2) A petition for adoption shall contain the following information:(a) The name and address of the petitioner;(b) The name, if…

(1) Except as otherwise provided in RCW 26.33.170, consent to an adoption shall be required of the following if applicable:(a) The adoptee, if fourteen years of age or older;(b) The parents and any *alleged father of an adoptee under eighteen years of age;(c) An agency or the dep…

(1) An agency's, the department's, or a legal guardian's consent to adoption may be dispensed with if the court determines by clear, cogent and convincing evidence that the proposed adoption is in the best interests of the adoptee.(2) An *alleged father's, birth parent's, or pare…

Except as provided in RCW 26.33.220, a child shall not be placed with prospective adoptive parents until a preplacement report has been filed with the court.[ 1984 c 155 s 18.]

(1) Any person may at any time request an agency, the department, an individual approved by the court, or a qualified salaried court employee to prepare a preplacement report. A certificate signed under penalty of perjury by the person preparing the report specifying his or her q…

(1) Except as provided in RCW 26.33.220, at the time the petition for adoption is filed, the court shall order a post-placement report made to determine the nature and adequacy of the placement and to determine if the placement is in the best interest of the child. The report sha…

The department or an agency having the custody of a child may make the preplacement or post-placement report on a petitioner for the adoption of that child.[ 1984 c 155 s 21.]

Unless otherwise ordered by the court, the reports required by RCW 26.33.190 are not required if the petitioner seeks to adopt the child of the petitioner's spouse. The reports required by RCW 26.33.190 and 26.33.200 are not required if the adoptee is eighteen years of age or old…

The petitioner shall give not less than three days written notice of any proceeding at which a preplacement report will be considered to all agencies, any court approved individual, or any court employee requested by the petitioner to make a preplacement report. The notice shall …

(1) After the reports required by RCW 26.33.190 and 26.33.200 have been filed, the court shall schedule a hearing on the petition for adoption upon request of the petitioner for adoption. Notice of the date, time, and place of hearing shall be given to the petitioner and any pers…

(1) A decree of adoption shall provide, as a minimum, the following information:(a) The full original name of the person to be adopted;(b) The full name of each petitioner for adoption;(c) Whether the petitioner or petitioners are husband and wife, stepparent, or a single parent;…

(1) The entry of a decree of adoption divests any parent or *alleged father who is not married to the adoptive parent or who has not joined in the petition for adoption of all legal rights and obligations in respect to the adoptee, except past-due child support obligations. The a…

An order or decree entered under this chapter shall not disentitle a child to any benefit due the child from any third person, agency, state, or the United States. Action under this chapter shall not affect any rights and benefits that a native American child derives from the chi…

After a decree of adoption is entered, as soon as the time for appeal has expired, or if an appeal is taken, and the adoption is affirmed on appeal, the clerk of the court shall transmit to the state registrar of vital statistics a certified copy of the decree, along with any add…

Upon receipt of a decree of adoption, the state registrar of vital statistics shall:(1) Return the decree to the court clerk if all information required by RCW 26.33.250 is not included in the decree;(2) If the adoptee was born in a state other than Washington, or in a territory …

(1) Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to prohibit the parties to a proceeding under this chapter from entering into agreements regarding communication with or contact between child adoptees, adoptive parents, siblings of child adoptees, and a birth parent or parents.(2) …

The department of health shall be a depository for statistical data concerning adoption. It shall furnish to the clerk of each county a data card which shall be completed and filed with the clerk on behalf of each petitioner. The clerk shall forward the completed cards to the dep…

(1) Petitions governed by this chapter shall be served in the manner as set forth in the superior court civil rules. Subsequent notice, papers, and pleadings may be served in the manner provided in superior court civil rules.(2) If personal service on any parent or *alleged fathe…

(1) In deciding whether to grant a petition for adoption of a hard to place child and in reviewing any request for the vacation or modification of a decree of adoption, the superior court shall consider any agreement made or proposed to be made between the department and any pros…

(1) All records of any proceeding under this chapter shall be sealed and shall not be thereafter open to inspection by any person except upon order of the court for good cause shown, or except by using the procedure described in RCW 26.33.343. In determining whether good cause ex…

Department, agency, and court files regarding an adoption shall be confidential except that reasonably available nonidentifying information may be disclosed upon the written request for the information from the adoptive parent, the adoptee, or the birth parent. If the adoption fa…

(1) An adopted person over the age of twenty-one years, or under twenty-one with the permission of the adoptive parent, or a birth parent or member of the birth parent's family after the adoptee has reached the age of twenty-one may petition the court to appoint a confidential in…

(1) The department, adoption agencies, and independent adoption facilitators shall release the name and location of the court where a relinquishment of parental rights or finalization of an adoption took place to an adult adoptee, a birth parent of an adult adoptee, an adoptive p…

(1) An adopted person over the age of eighteen may file with the department of health a certified statement declaring any one or more of the following:(a) The adoptee refuses to consent to the release of any identifying information to a biological parent, biological sibling, or o…

(1) Every person, firm, society, association, corporation, or state agency receiving, securing a home for, or otherwise caring for a minor child shall transmit to the prospective adopting parent prior to placement and shall make available to all persons with whom a child has been…

(1) If a natural parent unsuccessfully petitions to have an adoption set aside, the court shall award costs, including reasonable attorneys' fees, to the adoptive parent.(2) If a natural parent successfully petitions to have an adoption set aside, the natural parent shall be liab…

See RCW 26.38.110.

(1) Every person, firm, society, association, corporation, or state agency receiving, securing a home for, or otherwise caring for a minor child shall transmit to the prospective adopting parent prior to placement and shall make available to all persons with whom a child has been…

The department shall adopt rules, in consultation with affected parties, establishing minimum standards for making reasonable efforts to locate records and information relating to adoptions as required under RCW 26.33.350 and 26.33.380.[ 1994 c 170 s 3.]

(1) All persons adopting a child through the department shall receive written information on the department's adoption-related services including, but not limited to, adoption support, family reconciliation services, archived records, mental health, and developmental disabilities…

See RCW 26.38.130.

The legislature finds that the importance of children's relationships with their siblings is well recognized in law and science. The bonds between siblings are often irreplaceable, leading some experts to believe that sibling relationships can be longer lasting and more influenti…

The court, in reviewing and approving an agreement under RCW 26.33.295 for the adoption of a child from foster care, shall encourage the adoptive parents, birth parents, foster parents, kinship caregivers, and the department or other supervising agency to seriously consider the l…

This act shall take effect January 1, 1985. Any proceeding initiated before January 1, 1985, shall be governed by the law in effect on the date the proceeding was initiated.[ 1984 c 155 s 41.]

For the purposes of this chapter, the terms spouse, marriage, marital, husband, wife, widow, widower, next of kin, and family shall be interpreted as applying equally to state registered domestic partnerships or individuals in state registered domestic partnerships as well as to …