adopting stepchildren in scotland

[debbbie33]

we have four children. 2 are ours together and 2 mine. how do we go about adoption. the children are aged 11 and 9 years and havent seen their biological father in nearly 2 years. my oldest went to a laywer when he was 9 to stop his biological father contacting him so we have no contact at all. as my son already has a lawyer could he start the process by going to his own lawyer. anybody help us please. ps there is no rush kids are all settled and the adoption would merely be a formality. have already had their names legally changed anyway. but adoption would get bio dad off the birth certificate thanx

[cruella]

Fairly tricky question here debbie.
Even although you are the childrens biological Mother, you would still be required to adopt your own children.
Social work would become involved and it does take some time to adopt, following interviews etc.
Check with you Lawyer and it may be worth calling Social Services for advice.
Good Luck. xxxxxx

[debbbie33]

thanks but i dont think i have to go thruogh the adoption process i was told that stopped years ago. dont know tho will check into it. sheers

[spudqueen]

I think that cruella is right that you would have to adopt your own children. This happened to my brother and I in the 1970's. My mother remarried a couple of years after our father died and we were adopted by both our real mother and our new stepfather. We had to go to court, I remember telling the judge that I wanted the adoption to go ahead. It is probably more complicated now than it was then, but it took about a year from the process starting to our being adopted.