Legal Question in Family Law in California

Your first step should be to contact a qualified licensed adoption agency in your area. Even a private placement adoption like this requires the participation of a licensed agency to conduct the home study and report to the court. They can also facilitate the rest of the process for you. The legal steps are quite simple compared to all the reports and filings you need to do with other agencies. This process can take some time and you haven't mentioned when the child is to be born, but you should probably get moving with an agency right away. If your process isn't complete when the baby is born, you can still get temporary guardianship while you finish the adoption, but that is just a layer of complexity you can avoid if everything is done by the time of the birth. Since this is a relative, I would also recommend you bring the mother to the U.S. for the birth. That will avoid the complexity of an international adoption, and give the California courts clear jurisdiction. If you can bring her here for pre-natal care too, all the better.