Legal Question in Family Law in California

There are no limitations on adopting a child from another state versus your home state. The only difference is that you probably will have to pass background checks and other procedural checks in both states instead of one. My ex and I adopted a child in Oregon and the process was pretty much identical to if we lived in Oregon. The adoption was governed by Oregon law, and we complied with the Oregon state requirements. Our background check was done with the State of California and the results forwarded to Oregon. Then Oregon checked the results and approved them. Our home study was done by a California certified agency that was accepted by Oregon's childrens services agency. The legal proceedings were done by Oregon lawyers in the Oregon courts. Just as if you were adopting in your home state the first step is to be approved as temporary guardians, so you can take the baby home. For an out of state adoption you will want to have that arranged before the birth if possible. We were connected with the birth mother two days after the birth and had to wait ten days to take him out of the hospital and several weeks after that before we had official guardianship papers that allowed us to take him out of Oregon. Once you have guardianship, the process is the same as if you adopt in-state. You rarely have to make a court appearance. We never did. It was all done by paperwork submitted to the court that the court approved without hearings.