Art. 1285.9 Final decree at first hearing

If you're adopting a child who was placed in your home through a licensed adoption agency, and the child has already lived with you for at least six months before the adoption hearing, the judge can finalize the adoption right away at that first hearing. This means you don't have to go through an extra waiting step called an interlocutory decree, which is normally a temporary order that comes before the final adoption is approved.

Before making this decision, the judge will still look at certain factors laid out in Article 1285.6(B) to make sure the adoption is in the child's best interest. But if everything checks out and the six month living requirement is met, the court can skip straight to making the adoption final and permanent at the very first court date.

This rule basically speeds up the adoption process for families who already have a solid track record of caring for the child through a licensed agency placement. Instead of waiting through additional hearings or a trial period, the family can get legal certainty and finality sooner.