Grandparent Rights in Maine Adoption

Grandparents in Maine are increasingly in situations that would have been unusual a generation ago: raising a grandchild full-time because a parent is unable to, or navigating the legal system to protect a relationship with a grandchild who has been placed in foster care or adopted by someone else. Nearly 1,000 babies are born drug-exposed in Maine annually — a reality tied directly to the opioid crisis — and grandparents are often the first family members the state turns to when a child cannot safely remain with their parents. Understanding what legal rights grandparents have, and what the adoption process looks like when grandparents are the ones petitioning to adopt, is critically important for families in this situation.

Grandparents as Kinship Caregivers: Priority in Maine

When DHHS removes a child from their parents' home, Maine law requires that the state first consider relatives as placement options. Grandparents have priority as kinship caregivers under this framework — they are the first relatives contacted, and if they are willing and able to provide a safe home, they will typically be licensed as resource parents before the child is placed with an unrelated foster family.

This does not happen automatically. A grandparent who wants to be considered for placement must affirmatively make themselves known to the DHHS caseworker quickly after removal. If a child is placed with an unrelated foster family in the interim — because the grandparent was not reached or did not respond immediately — reversing that placement later is harder.

If you are a grandparent in this situation: contact the assigned DHHS caseworker as soon as you know a removal has occurred. Express clearly that you want to be considered as a placement option. Do not wait for the system to come to you.

Grandparent Adoption in Maine: The Legal Framework

Grandparents can adopt a grandchild through several pathways:

Foster-to-adopt through DHHS. If the grandchild is in DHHS custody, the grandparent becomes a licensed resource home and cares for the child through the child welfare case. When TPR is finalized and the child is freed for adoption, DHHS consents to the grandparent's adoption petition in Probate Court. This is the most common path for grandparents in opioid-crisis-related situations.

Relative adoption without DHHS involvement. If the child is not in state custody — for example, if the child has been informally living with grandparents and the biological parent is now willing to consent to adoption — the grandparent files a petition directly in Probate Court. This is a private relative adoption.

Adoption following TPR on abandonment grounds. If a biological parent has been absent and has not supported or contacted the child for six months, and the grandparent is seeking permanent legal status, an attorney can help the grandparent petition to terminate the absent parent's rights and proceed to adoption.

Simplified Process for Relative Adoptions

Maine law provides a meaningful benefit for grandparents (and other close relatives) seeking to adopt: the Probate Court has discretion to waive the formal home study requirement for relatives. Under Title 18-C, if the petitioner is a blood relative of the child or the spouse of a parent, and if the court already has sufficient information to determine the child's best interest, the full adoption study can be waived.

This does not mean the court does nothing — the judge still evaluates the child's best interest and may conduct an inquiry into the grandparent's circumstances. But it eliminates the potentially months-long and costly home study process required for unrelated adoptive parents.

Note: this waiver applies to private relative adoptions where DHHS is not involved. Grandparents who became licensed resource parents through DHHS already completed a home study as part of licensing, so a separate "adoption study" conversion is typically all that is needed.

Consent Requirements When Adopting a Grandchild

For a grandparent to adopt a grandchild, all required consents must be obtained or waived by the court. This means:

Both biological parents must consent (or have their rights terminated) unless a waiver applies. If one parent is absent and meets abandonment criteria, a TPR petition on abandonment grounds can be filed concurrently with the adoption petition.

The child, if 12 or older, must consent. An older grandchild who does not want to be formally adopted (perhaps out of loyalty to a biological parent) can block the proceeding. This does not mean the grandparent has no options — guardianship is an alternative that provides legal authority without severing the biological parent relationship — but it is a real consideration in relative adoption cases.

DHHS consent is required if DHHS holds legal custody (which it does in most foster care cases). Once DHHS consents to the adoption petition, the adoption proceeds through Probate Court in the normal way.

Grandparent Visitation Rights After Adoption by Someone Else

What about grandparents whose grandchild has been adopted by an unrelated family? Do they have any legal rights to maintain contact?

Maine's position on grandparent visitation after adoption is nuanced. Generally, once an adoption is finalized, the adopting family has full parental rights and grandparents from the birth family do not have automatic visitation rights. The legal parent-child relationship is with the adoptive parents, not the biological grandparents.

However:

Post-adoption contact agreements (PACAs) can include grandparent contact. If the adoptive family and the birth family negotiate an open adoption arrangement, grandparents can be named as parties to a contact agreement. These agreements are recognized by Maine courts.

Sibling contact orders are a related issue. If a grandparent's other grandchildren have contact with the adopted child as part of a sibling contact arrangement, the grandparent may have incidental contact through those sibling visits.

Court petitions for grandparent visitation are a last resort and require meeting a high legal standard — demonstrating that denial of visitation causes harm to the child, not merely that grandparent contact would be beneficial. Courts are reluctant to override adoptive parents' decisions about contact.

The practical reality: grandparent contact with an adopted grandchild is most reliably maintained by having it included in a PACA during the adoption process — before finalization, when birth family preferences have more leverage in negotiations.

Financial Support for Grandparent Adoptions

Grandparents who adopt a grandchild from DHHS custody are eligible for the same Adoption Assistance Program benefits as unrelated adoptive parents, including:

• Monthly subsidy payments based on the child's level of need (ranging from $555 to over $2,363 per month for high-need children)
• MaineCare continuation until the child is 18 (or 21 in some cases)
• Non-recurring expense reimbursement up to $2,000

Many grandparents are unaware of these benefits — they assume adoption assistance is only for professional foster parents. It is not. If you are a grandparent who has adopted or is considering adopting a grandchild from state custody, discuss adoption assistance eligibility with your DHHS caseworker before the adoption petition is filed. The agreement must be signed before finalization.

The federal adoption tax credit is also available for grandparent adoptions that qualify. A CPA familiar with adoption tax issues can help you determine eligibility.

What Guardianship Offers Instead of Adoption

Not every grandparent situation ends in adoption. Guardianship — either through DHHS's guardianship with subsidy program or through Probate Court — can provide legal authority to make decisions for a grandchild without terminating the biological parent's rights. This may be appropriate when:

• The biological parent is struggling but not permanently unable to parent (and termination would be disproportionate)
• The child has a strong, healthy relationship with the biological parent that should be preserved
• The grandparent wants legal authority but does not want to permanently sever the child's legal relationship with their birth family

Guardianship is less permanent than adoption — a biological parent can petition to modify guardianship if circumstances change — but it provides significant legal standing in day-to-day situations like school enrollment, medical consent, and travel.

For a complete overview of the Maine kinship adoption process — including the home study waiver, consent requirements, adoption assistance eligibility, and how to navigate the Probate Court petition — the Maine Adoption Process Guide includes a dedicated kinship section with the practical steps grandparents need to take at each stage.

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