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Independent adoptions (California Fam. Code, § 8800 et seq.) are those in which no agency, state or private, joins in the adoption petition (id., § 8524), although the state does have a role in investigating, evaluating and commenting upon the petition. (See id., § 8807.) 'The right to adopt a child, and the right of a person to be adopted as the child of another, are wholly statutory.' (Estate of Sharon (1918) 179 Cal. 447, 454 [177 P. 283].)
Pursuant to the current California statutory scheme, birth parents can consent to an independent adoption by entering into an adoption placement agreement with a prospective adoptive parent. (Fam. Code, § 8801.3; see also Cal. Code Regs., tit. 22, § 35108, subd. (b).) The birth parents have 30 days in which to revoke this consent. (Fam. Code, § 8814.5, subd. (a)(1).) If they fail to do so, their consent becomes permanent and irrevocable. (§§ 8801.3, subd. (c)(2), 8814.5, subds. (a)(1), (3), (b), 8815, subd. (a).) Once the adoption placement agreement has been signed, the prospective adoptive parent may petition for adoption. (§ 8802, subd. (a)(1)(C).) The court clerk must give CDSS (Department of Social Services) notice of the ...
