Art. 1283.13 Petition for final decree following interlocutory decree

If you want to finalize an adoption, you have to wait until certain time limits are met. The child must have lived with you for at least one year, and at least six months must have passed since the court gave its interlocutory decree (the earlier, temporary approval of the adoption). Only after both of these time periods are satisfied can you file the petition asking the court to make the adoption final.

Once you file that petition, the court will schedule a hearing date and location. You don't need to notify or serve papers on other people in the case, like the birth parents. The only party that must be served with the petition is the department, meaning the state agency that handles child welfare and adoption matters. This keeps the final step of the adoption process simpler, since most of the legal notifications happened earlier in the case.