Single men or women in Knoxville may not have any desire to get married, but they may still wish to raise a child. While single-parent adoption is in fact an option that is available for single parents to consider, there are a number of other facets that the prospective parent needs to take into consideration as well.
As stated by the Child Welfare Information Gateway, a single parent’s support network is incredibly important. Traditional adoptions involve two parents raising a child together, and they can act as support for each other. A single parent will need to determine where their support will come from. They should have people they’re comfortable calling on for help in both emergency and non-emergency situations. This can include everything from watching the child when they are ill and the parent is unable to, to picking them up from school if the parent cannot, to taking primary custody if the parent passes away.
Adoptions Together echoes this statement, saying that planning out income and finances is also of utmost importance. A single parent will typically only have one source of income. Automatically, this can mean that the child in question is not getting as much financial support that they could be getting if adopted by two parents. The prospective single parent will want to have a backup plan for financial emergencies in place, as they might not be considered a good candidate to adopt a child to otherwise.
The adoption process can already be complex even with traditional two-person couples. Situations that deviate from the norm can be more time consuming, but are fortunately normally still doable.