Recent Updates to Illinois Adoption Law – 2024 Case Law Review
O. Long Law, LLC operates a thriving adoption law practice, focusing on second-parent adoption cases. In 2024, several key updates to adoption laws have introduced changes that may impact prospective parents, adoptive families, and legal professionals alike. In this blog post, we will explore the most important legal changes in adoption law for the year ahead, offering insights into how these adjustments could affect your adoption journey. If you are considering adoption, reach out to one of our experienced Family Law attorneys who can help make your family’s bond official.
Unfitness
Illinois courts heard several adoption cases involving the decision of whether to declare a parent unfit as a basis for terminating their parental rights, thereby allowing the adoption to move forward.
In In re Adoption of G.B.C.,[1] the Respondent biological parent appealed a trial court’s decision to declare them unfit to parent. In the petition, the Petitioner alleged Respondent met five separate grounds of unfitness: habitual drunkenness, depravity, abandonment, failure to show concern, and failure to provide care. The appellate court held that the trial court erroneously found habitual drunkenness, but it upheld the findings of the other four grounds. The court held that the trial court did not err in declaring the respondent unfit solely because one of the grounds of unfitness was erroneously found because the evidence supported the other four findings. This decision affirms that one error in a finding of unfitness shall not invalidate the judgment if the evidence supports a finding of unfitness above and beyond the erroneously decided ground.
In In re Adoption of Hayden B.,[2] a Mother and her husband filed a petition to adopt her son, claiming the Father was unfit and requesting the termination of his parental rights. The court granted the petition, and Father appealed. His appellate lawyer withdrew, stating there were no valid arguments against the court’s decision. The appellate court allowed the withdrawal and upheld the trial court’s ruling. Father had been absent from the child’s life for 12 years and was serving a 35-year prison sentence for murder and seven other felonies. The guardian ad litem recommended terminating Father’s rights, noting his failure to show interest, communicate, or provide support for the child. The court confirmed that it must examine the parent’s efforts in showing an interest in the child. Here, it found that Father made no effort. The appellate court also noted that Father’s criminal history denotes depravity. A court may properly base a finding of depravity and parental unfitness on repeated incarcerations, regardless of other evidence demonstrating fitness.
In In re Adoption of Scholes J.R.,[3] Mother and maternal grandmother filed for the adoption of a child in 2020, seeking to terminate Father’s parental rights due to his lack of involvement, felony convictions, and failure to support the child. Father countered by filing a petition for parentage and visitation. Despite a history of criminal convictions and limited contact with the child, Father argued he had rehabilitated and sought to maintain a relationship. The trial court ruled in Father’s favor, finding he was fit to parent, and denied the adoption petition. Mother appealed, claiming the court wrongly found Father was not depraved and unfit. The appellate court affirmed the trial court’s decision, ruling that Father rebutted the presumption of depravity with evidence of rehabilitation, and that Mother did not prove by clear and convincing evidence that Father was unfit. This clarifies the legal standard needed to prove unfitness if the other parent successfully rebuts the presumption depravity by producing some evidence of rehabilitation.
Who Can Adopt in Illinois?
The Illinois Adoption Act provides that the individuals related to the child in the following ways may petition the court for adoption: “parent, grand-parent, great grandparent, brother, sister, stepparent, step-grandparent, step-brother, step-sister, uncle, aunt, great-uncle, great-aunt, first cousin, or second cousin.” In In re Adoption of V.C.,[4] the Petitioners were the minor child’s first cousin, once removed, and their spouse. The trial court denied their petition to adopt the child because they were not related in a way required by the statute. The appellate court reversed and remanded, holding that if first cousins, once removed, were not included in the definition it would produce an absurd result because a literal reading of the relevant provision would result in Petitioners’ parents and children to petition for adoption but not Petitioners. Thus, first cousins, once removed, can petition for adoption even though that relationship is not explicitly defined in the statute.
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[1] 2024 WL 4814778 (Ill.App. 3 Dist.), November 15, 2024.
[2] 2024 WL 660136 (Ill.App. 5 Dist.), February 16, 2024.
[3] 2024 WL 2290028 (Ill.App. 5 Dist.), May 17, 2024.
[4] 2024 WL 124276 (Ill.App. 2 Dist.), January 11, 2024.
