Prior to an adoption of a child taking place, the termination of the parental rights of the biological parents must take place.  This can be done voluntarily, with the biological parents signing and filing consents for the court to confirm at a hearing, or involuntarily, which is typically a contested proceeding requiring a petition, hearing and court order.  The termination of parental rights petition is filed before and separately from the adoption petition and can be addressed at the same proceeding as the adoption, but is more commonly handled as a separate proceeding.

The court will generally not permit a biological parent to voluntarily terminate their parental rights without an adoptive parent being identified.  The primary reason for this is that the state has an interest in not allowing biological parents to terminate their financial responsibility for a child and possibly having that responsibility fall on the state due to the termination of their parental rights.

If a child has been adjudicated dependent and is in the case and custody of Children & Youth Services, foster parents do not have standing to file to terminate parental rights.  Children & Youth Services initiates and litigates that proceeding and then refers the foster family to private counsel to handle the adoption.