The Adoption Process in Indiana, Step by Step

By: Grant Kirsh

If you have an unplanned pregnancy and are wondering how to give up a baby for adoption in Indiana, it helps to understand what the process actually looks like from beginning to end. Knowing the steps can make the whole thing feel less overwhelming.

At Kirsh & Kirsh, P.C., we have guided Indiana birth mothers through this process for nearly 50 years. We are a family-run Indiana law firm, not a national adoption agency, and we will walk with you through every step. Here is how it works.

Step 1: You Reach Out

It starts with a phone call, a text, or a message. That is all. When you contact us, we listen to your situation, answer your questions, and explain your options. This costs you nothing and obligates you to nothing. We will never pressure you.

Step 2: You Learn Your Options

Before anything else, you deserve to understand all of your choices, including parenting. We will explain what adoption looks like, what your rights are under Indiana law, what financial help is available, and what kind of ongoing relationship with your child is possible. Honest information, no pressure.

Step 3: You Choose a Family

If you decide adoption is right for you, you review profiles of hopeful adoptive families. With over 100 carefully screened families waiting, you will have real choices. You pick the family that feels right. Adoptive families can come from anywhere in the country.

Step 4: You Make a Plan

You and the family, with our help, talk through what kind of relationship you want after placement, such as letters, photos, visits, or video calls. All of our families commit to letters and photos for at least 18 years. We also make a hospital plan based on your wishes. Because we know the hospitals, social workers, and doctors across Indiana, we can prepare everyone for your wishes ahead of time.

Step 5: Your Baby Is Born

You have time with your baby at the hospital. As much as you want. You decide who is in the room, whether you hold your baby, and whether the adoptive family is there. Until you sign the consent, you are the parent, and every decision is yours.

Step 6: You Sign the Consent

In Indiana, you cannot sign the consent to adoption until after your baby is born. There is no specific waiting period required by law, but the Indiana Hospital Association policy, which we helped draft and update as recently as 2025, recommends waiting no sooner than 24 hours after a normal delivery, or 48 hours after a c-section. You sign when you are ready.

Once you sign, it is legally effective. There is a 15-day window to attempt to withdraw consent under Indiana Code 31-19-10-3(a), but this is very difficult and is not a true revocation period. Some birth parents choose to confirm their consent before a judge, which can be done by phone, and which waives that 15-day window under Indiana Code 31-19-10-3(b).

Step 7: The Adoption Is Finalized

The adoption is finalized in court several months later. Here is the part that surprises many birth mothers: you almost certainly will never have to step foot in a courtroom. The finalization happens without you needing to attend. You have already done your part, the most important part.

What About an Unplanned Pregnancy When You Are Not Sure?

Many women come to us unsure. That is okay. Exploring adoption does not commit you to anything. You can learn, ask questions, and take your time. If you decide to parent, we will respect that completely.

One thing we want every woman to know: the best time to explore adoption is during your pregnancy or right after birth, not months later. We are seeing more and more women who bring their baby home, try to parent, and then try to place the child for adoption months later. By then, the process is much harder, especially if the father has established paternity. The window at birth is the clearest and most protective time.

Whether you are in Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, Evansville, South Bend, Carmel, Fishers, Bloomington, Hammond, Gary, Muncie, Lafayette, Terre Haute, Kokomo, Anderson, or Greenwood, we are here. Our services are 100% free.

Call or text us at 800-333-5736. Visit us at IndianaAdoption.com. Everything is free and confidential.

About the Author
Grant Kirsh is a second-generation adoption attorney and owner of Kirsh & Kirsh, P.C., a family law firm in Indianapolis, Indiana that has been serving Indiana families since 1981. Grant graduated from Indiana University McKinney School of Law in 2013 and has personally handled nearly 3,000 foster care adoptions and his law firm has handled over 5,000 private newborn adoptions. He practices all forms of domestic adoption, with a deep personal commitment to expectant mothers considering adoption in Indiana and Indiana’s foster care system and the families and children it serves.