B. Documentation Required

The following is a list of documents required by the court before an adoption can be granted:

•   Criminal History Reports: The court shall order each person seeking to adopt the child to obtain his or her own criminal history reports. The court shall accept a criminal history record for each person seeking to adopt the child provided by DFPS or by a licensed child-placing agency that received the information from DFPS, if the information was obtained not more than one year before the court ordered the record obtained. Tex. Fam. Code § 162.0085(a).

•   Pre-Adoptive Social Study and Post-Placement Social Study: In a suit for adoption, pre-adoptive and post-placement social studies must be conducted as provided in Tex. Fam. Code Chapter 107. Tex. Fam. Code § 162.003.

•   Health, Social, Educational, and Genetic History (HSEGH) Report: Unless the adoptive parent is a grandparent, aunt or uncle, or stepparent, a HSEGH Report is required. Tex. Fam. Code § 162.005(a). If the child’s biological parents cannot be located and there is insufficient information to complete the HSEGH report, the court may waive the HSEGH report. Tex. Fam. Code § 162.008(c).

•   Interstate Compact Compliance Statement: per Tex. Fam. Code § 162.002(b)(2).

•   Written consent forms: signed by the managing conservator, in most cases DFPS, and the child, if age 12 or over. Tex. Fam. Code § 162.010.

•   A report or response from the child’s Indian tribe: if applicable.

•   Order terminating parental rights: if rights have previously been terminated.

Special Issue: It may be necessary to examine the circumstances of the termination, especially in an adoption from a foreign country, to determine if basic due process rights have been met.

Adoption Order from a Foreign Country

•   An adoption order rendered to a resident of this state that is made by a foreign country shall be accorded full faith and credit by the courts of Texas and enforced as if the order were rendered by a court of Texas, unless the adoption law or process of the foreign country violates the fundamental principles of human rights or the laws or public policy of this state. Tex. Fam. Code § 162.023(a).

•   A person who adopts a child in a foreign country may register the order in this state. A petition for registration of a foreign adoption order may be combined with a petition for a name change. If the court finds that the foreign adoption order does not violate the principles of human rights or the laws or public policy of this state, the court shall order the state registrar to register the order and file a certificate of birth for the child under Tex. Health & Safety Code § 192.006. Tex. Fam. Code § 162.023(b).