The Pinal County Attorney’s Office handles uncontested adoptions at no cost to Pinal County residents.  Families must pay fingerprint fees and birth certificate fees, but no attorneys’ fees.  Uncontested adoptions include, but are not limited to: a step-parent who has been legally married to the child's birth parent for at least one year; or other relative adoptions (grandparent, great-grandparent, aunt, uncle, adult sibling).

If you have permanent guardianship, you may also qualify.  We also assist adoption agencies with finalizing adoptions, as well as, foreign adoptions, and foreign re-adoptions.  We do not, however, handle Arizona Department of Child Safety (“DCS”) involved adoptions. Please contact your case worker or DCS for more information.

In the event of a stepparent adoption, the child must be legally free from only the non-custodial parent, and in all other adoptions, the child must be legally free from all parents. In both circumstances, this is required whether the parent(s) location is known or not, whether their identity is known or not, or whether the parent is involved in the child’s life or not.  Therefore, parental rights of the non-custodial parent must be severed before the adoption can take place or the non-custodial parent must have provided valid written consent.

If you need assistance in filing for severance of parental rights, you can obtain the necessary paperwork at the Arizona Superior Court website:

http://www.coscpinalcountyaz.gov/forms.html

See Arizona Revised Statutes, Title 8, to read all laws governing adoptions in Arizona:

https://www.azleg.gov/arsDetail/?title=8

If you believe that you fit the criteria set forth above, please contact the Pinal County Attorney's Office for an application at (520) 866-6271.