An adoption is an important court proceeding that terminates the rights of a person's biological parents and creates one or two new legal parents.

In Cook County, Illinois, the adoption process is governed by Illinois law and the Rules of the Circuit Court of Cook County, which require the use of certain forms and procedures

The laws and rules regulating adoptions are as follows:

• Illinois Adoption Act: governs all adoption proceedings in Illinois courts.
• Case law: including decisions from the United States Supreme Court and lower federal courts, as well as from the Illinois Supreme Court and the Illinois Appellate Courts on adoption issues, which is available in the Cook County Law Library located in the Richard J. Daley Center, 50 West Washington Street, Chicago, on the 29th Floor, 312.603.5423.
• The Rules of the Circuit Court of Cook County: outlines procedures to be followed in the Circuit Court of Cook County.
• Indian Child Welfare Act, 25 USC§1901 et seq: a federal law to which certain adoptions of Native American children are subject.

There are four types of adoption proceedings, each requiring different procedures, court forms and documents. The four types are as follows:

Related	Either or both of the adopting parents are related to the child in any of the following ways: biologically, through adoption, or by marriage. The relationship must be any of the following: biological parent, stepparent, grandparent stepgrandparent, sibling, stepsibling, uncle, aunt, great uncle, great aunt or first cousin.
Agency	The adopting parents received the child from a placement made by the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services or a private licensed adoption agency.
Private	The adopting parents received the child directly from the biological parents.
Adult	The person to be adopted is 18 years of age or older and is either related to the adopting parents or has lived with them for at least 2 years. The biological parents of the adult being adopted do not have to consent to or receive notice of this type of adoption.

In addition, adoption proceedings are impacted by whether the child to be adopted was born or resided in another country, or a state other than Illinois. Adoptions proceedings can also be impacted if the adoptive parents move out of state or to another country.

Court forms for certain types of adoptions can be downloaded at www.illinoislegalaid.org.

Also, Illinois Legal Aid Online, www.illinoislegalaid.org, is a free, user-friendly website with information on Illinois law. Answers to common adoption questions and step-by-step guidelines on how to handle different types of adoptions are presented, as well as actual court forms that can be downloaded and used in court.

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