Many single Floridians have dreams of being parents, but they never married or had other relationships that produced children, or they are divorced. Single adults may have medical or genetic complications preventing pregnancy or raising the risks of severe problems in pregnancy. Or they might find themselves older than most other people are when they become parents. For some people, single parenthood appeals to them with no desire or need for spouses or partners in that endeavor.
In each of these circumstances and in others like them, unmarried adults in Florida may seriously consider whether adoption might be an answer for them.
Florida law is open to many kinds of adoptive parents
State statute provides that anyone – minor or adult – may be adopted. The law allows joint adoption by married couples, stepparent adoptions and single-parent adoptions. A married person may petition for adoption without their spouse jointly if the court excuses it for “good cause or in the best interest of the child.”
The adoption statute prevents an eligible person from rejection as an adoptive parent because they plan to home-school the child. In addition, an otherwise-qualified potential parent may not be denied adoption solely because they have a physical disability “unless it is determined by the court or adoption entity that such disability or handicap renders such person incapable of serving as an effective parent.”
In 2010, a state appeals court found a ban on gay or lesbian adoption in the statute was unconstitutional after which the legislature amended the statute to lift that restriction. Gay and lesbian Floridians, single or married, are eligible to adopt children.
