Any person not married or any person, with his or her spouses consent, or any husband and wife jointly, may petition a circuit court of the county wherein such person or persons reside for a decree of adoption of any minor child or person who may be adopted by the petitioner or petitioners: Provided, That if the minor child to be adopted has been removed from a prior home due to an abuse or neglect proceeding, the petition may be filed in the same county as the original abuse and neglect proceeding regarding the minor child.
Structure West Virginia Code
Chapter 48. Domestic Relations
§48-22-101. Applicability of Definitions
§48-22-102. Abandonment Defined
§48-22-103. Adoptive Parents, Adoptive Mother or Adoptive Father Defined
§48-22-105. Birth Father Defined
§48-22-106. Birth Mother Defined
§48-22-107. Birth Parents Defined
§48-22-109. Determined Father Defined
§48-22-110. Legal Father Defined
§48-22-111. Marital Child Defined
§48-22-112. Nonmarital Child Defined
§48-22-113. Outsider Father Defined
§48-22-114. Putative Father Defined
§48-22-115. Relinquishment Defined
§48-22-116. Stepparent Adoption Defined
§48-22-117. Unknown Father Defined
§48-22-201. Persons Who May Petition for Decree of Adoption
§48-22-301. Persons Whose Consent or Relinquishment Is Required; Exceptions
§48-22-302. Timing and Execution of Consent or Relinquishment
§48-22-303. Content of Consent or Relinquishment
§48-22-304. Consent or Relinquishment by Infants
§48-22-305. Revocation of Consent or Relinquishment for Adoption
§48-22-306. Conduct Presumptively Constituting Abandonment
§48-22-401. Delivery of Child for Adoption; Written Recital of Circumstances
§48-22-501. Filing of Petition for Adoption
§48-22-502. Petition and Appendix
§48-22-601. Who Shall Receive Notice
§48-22-602. How Notice Is to Be Served
§48-22-603. Notice to an Unknown Father
§48-22-704. Finality of Order; Challenges to Order of Adoption
§48-22-801. Adoption of Adults
§48-22-802. Contracts Limiting or Restraining Adoptions
§48-22-901. Recognition of Foreign Adoption Decree
§48-22-902. Filing of Petition for Recognition of Foreign Adoption Decree
§48-22-903. Proceedings for Recognition of Foreign Adoption Decree