(a) Any person over eighteen (18) years of age may petition the chancery or circuit court to adopt a person and may request that the adopted person‘s name be changed.
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Terms Used In Tennessee Code 36-1-115

  • Adopted person: means :
    (A) Any person who is or has been adopted under this part or under the laws of any state, territory, or foreign country. See Tennessee Code 36-1-102
  • Adoption: means the social and legal process of establishing by court order, other than by paternity or legitimation proceedings or by voluntary acknowledgment of paternity, the legal relationship of parent and child. See Tennessee Code 36-1-102
  • Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
  • children: means any person or persons under eighteen (18) years of age. See Tennessee Code 36-1-102
  • Consent: means :
    (A) The written authorization to relinquish a child for adoption, which is given by an agency such as the department or a public child care agency of another state or country or licensed child-placing agency of this or another state, which agency has the authority, by court order or by surrender or by operation of law or by any combination of these, to place a child for adoption and to give permission for the adoption of that child by other persons. See Tennessee Code 36-1-102
  • court: includes the juvenile court for purposes of the authority to accept the surrender or revocation of surrenders of a child and to issue any orders of reference, orders of guardianship, or other orders resulting from a surrender or revocation that it accepts and for purposes of authorizing the termination of parental rights pursuant to §. See Tennessee Code 36-1-102
  • Department: means the department of children's services or any of its divisions or units. See Tennessee Code 36-1-102
  • Guardianship: means the status created by a court order appointing a person or entity guardian of the child. See Tennessee Code 36-1-102
  • Licensed child-placing agency: means any agency operating under a license to place children for adoption issued by the department, or operating under a license from any governmental authority from any other state or territory or the District of Columbia, or any agency that operates under the authority of another country with the right to make placement of children for adoption and that has, in the department's sole determination, been authorized to place children for adoption in this state. See Tennessee Code 36-1-102
  • parents: means any biological, legal, adoptive parent or parents or, for purposes of §. See Tennessee Code 36-1-102
  • Person: includes a corporation, firm, company or association. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Physical custody: means physical possession and care of a child. See Tennessee Code 36-1-102
  • State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
  • Surrender: means a document executed under §. See Tennessee Code 36-1-102
  • United States: includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
(b) The petitioners must have physical custody or must demonstrate to the court that they have the right to receive custody of the child sought to be adopted as provided in § 36-1-111(d)(6) at the time the petition is filed, unless they are filing an intervening petition seeking to adopt the child.
(c) If the petitioner has a spouse living, competent to join in the petition, such spouse shall join in the petition; provided, that if the spouse of the petitioner is a legal or biological parent of the child to be adopted, such spouse shall sign the petition as co-petitioner, and this shall be sufficient consent by the legal or biological parent for the petitioner’s spouse to adopt the child of the legal or biological parent, and no surrender shall be necessary by such co-petitioning legal or biological parent. Such action by the legal or biological parent shall not otherwise affect the legal relationship between that parent and the child.
(d) The petitioner or petitioners shall live and maintain their regular place of abode in this state when the adoption is filed. Nonresidents may also file a petition to adopt a child in this state if they file the petition in the county where a court granted the nonresidents, a licensed child-placing agency, or the department of children‘s services partial or complete guardianship or legal custody of the child, or where the child was placed in the legal custody of the licensed child-placing agency or the department of children’s services.
(e) If one (1) or both of petitioners is an active duty service member in the United States military, the service member and any co-petitioner with the service member may file a petition for adoption in this state without actual residency in this state, if the service member has lived, or maintained a regular place of abode, within this state for six (6) consecutive months immediately prior to entering military service or if this state is the service member’s state of legal residence as identified to the United States military.
(f) [Deleted by 2023 amendment.]
(g)

(1) When a child is placed in a foster home by the department or otherwise, and becomes available for adoption due to the termination or surrender of all parental or guardianship rights to the child, those foster parents shall be given first preference to adopt the child if the child has resided in the foster home for twelve (12) or more consecutive months immediately preceding the filing of an adoption petition.
(2) In becoming adoptive parents, the foster parents shall meet all requirements otherwise imposed on persons seeking to adopt children in the custody of the department, and shall be subject to all other provisions of this part.
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