New Jersey Administrative Code
Title 3A - CHILDREN AND FAMILIES
Chapter 50 - MANUAL OF REQUIREMENTS FOR ADOPTION AGENCIES
Subchapter 1 - GENERAL PROVISIONS
Section 3A:50-1.5 - Types of adoptions

1. "Agency adoption" is an adoption where the birth parent(s) and the adoptive parent(s) come to an agency independent of each other and there is no prior relationship for the purpose of adoption;

2. "Foreign adoption" is the adoption of a child who resides in a country other than the United States of America. An agency shall comply with the requirements of the Federal Immigration and Naturalization Act ( P.L. 95-417), and any successor or amending legislation regarding the classification of an alien orphan child as an immediate relative for purposes of an immigration visa; shall comply with the Intercountry Adoption Universal Accreditation Act of 2012, 42 U.S.C. §§ 14922 et seq.; and shall comply with each country's supervision and visitation requirements and relevant requirements of the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption when the child has entered the United States with the adoptive family;

3. "Identified adoption" or "private adoption" is an adoption where the agency becomes involved in providing services to each birth parent, legal parent and prospective adoptive parent who is considering a plan to place the child for adoption in the prospective adoptive parent's home;

4. "Independent adoption" is an adoption where the child is received in the adoptive home from a source other than an agency. Subsequent to the placement, the court orders an agency to conduct an Adoption Complaint Investigation (ACI) in order to investigate the circumstances of the placement and to assess the adoptive home;

5. "Stepparent adoption" is an adoption of a child by the birth parent's current spouse; and

6. "Relative adoption" is an adoption of a child by a person(s) who is related by blood or marriage.