                                 CODE OF VIRGINIA

FILING OF PETITION FOR ADOPTION; VENUE; JURISDICTION; AND PROCEEDINGS (§
63.2-1201)

Proceedings for the adoption of a minor child and for a change of name of such
child shall be instituted only by petition to a circuit court in the county or
city in which the petitioner resides, in the county or city in which the
child-placing agency that placed the child is located, or in the county or city
in which a birth parent executed a consent pursuant to § 63.2-1233. Such
petition may be filed by any natural person who resides in the Commonwealth, or
who has custody of a child placed by a child-placing agency of the Commonwealth,
or by an adopting parent of a child who was subject to a consent proceeding held
pursuant to § 63.2-1233, or by intended parents who are parties to a surrogacy
contract. The petition shall ask leave to adopt a minor child not legally the
petitioner&#8217;s by birth and, if it is so desired by the petitioner, also to
change the name of such child. In the case of married persons, or persons who
were previously married who are permitted to adopt a child under § 63.2-1201.1,
the petition shall be the joint petition of the husband and wife or former
spouses but, in the event the child to be adopted is legally the child by birth
or adoption of one of the petitioners, such petitioner shall unite in the
petition for the purpose of indicating consent to the prayer thereof only. If
any procedural provision of this chapter applies to only one of the adoptive
parents, then the court may waive the application of the procedural provision
for the spouse of the adoptive parent to whom the provision applies. The
petition shall contain a full disclosure of the circumstances under which the
child came to live, and is living, in the home of the petitioner. Each petition
for adoption shall be signed by the petitioner as well as by counsel of record,
if any. In any case in which the petition seeks the entry of an adoption order
without referral for investigation, the petition shall be under oath.
		A single petition for adoption under the provisions of this section shall be
sufficient for the concurrent adoption by the same petitioners of two or more
children who have the same birth parent or parents, and nothing in this section
shall be construed as having heretofore required a separate petition for each of
such children.
		The petition for adoption, except those filed pursuant to subdivisions 4 and 5
of § 63.2-1210, shall include an additional $50 filing fee that shall be used
to fund the Virginia Birth Father Registry established in Article 7 (§
63.2-1249 et seq.) of this chapter.
		A petition filed while the child is under 18 years of age shall not become
invalid because the child reaches 18 years of age prior to the entry of a final
order of adoption. Any final order of adoption entered pursuant to § 63.2-1213
after a child reaches 18 years of age, where the petition was filed prior to the
child turning 18 years of age, shall have the same effect as if the child was
under 18 years of age at the time the order was entered by the circuit court
provided the court has obtained the consent of the adoptee.

HISTORY: Code 1950, § 63-348; 1952, c. 550; 1954, c. 489; 1956, c. 300; 1964,
c. 459; 1968, c. 578, § 63.1-221; 1970, c. 672; 1973, c. 406; 1975, c. 461;
1978, c. 730; 1983, c. 614; 1988, c. 882; 1989, c. 647; 1991, cc. 76, 602; 1995,
cc. 772, 826; 2000, c. 830, § 63.1-219.9; 2002, c. 747; 2006, cc. 825, 848;
2007, cc. 606, 623; 2008, cc. 116, 868; 2009, c. 805; 2017, c. 200; 2022, c.
377.