{"data":{"id":"us-ok/okla.-stat.-tit.-10-10-7501-1.2","jurisdiction":"us-ok","citation":"Okla. Stat. tit. 10, § 10-7501-1.2","heading":"Purpose of Code","body":"A. The Legislature of this state believes that every child\n\nshould be raised in a secure, loving home and finds that adoption is\n\nthe best way to provide a permanent family for a child whose\n\nbiological parents are not able or willing to provide for the\n\nchild's care or whose parents believe the child's best interest will\n\nbe best served through adoption. The purpose of the Oklahoma\n\nAdoption Code is to:\n\n1. Ensure and promote the best interests of the child in\n\nadoptions and to establish an orderly and expeditious process for\n\nmovement of adoption matters through the courts;\n\n2. Affirm that the parent-child relationship is fundamental and\n\nthat all adoption laws should be fair to the child and to each\n\nparent of the child;\n\n3. Affirm the duty of the biological parents to provide\n\nappropriately for the care of the child unless custody of the child\n\nhas been transferred either voluntarily or involuntarily;\n\n4. Affirm the duty of a noncustodial parent to:\n\na. provide financial support for the parent's biological\n\nchild, and otherwise exercise parental\n\nresponsibilities,\n\nb. maintain a parent-child relationship, regardless of\n\nthe absence of any court order to that effect, and\n\nc. provide for the appropriate financial support of the\n\nmother of the child during her term of pregnancy;\n\n5. Affirm the duty of a male person who has sexual relations\n\nwith a female person outside of marriage to be aware that a\n\npregnancy might occur;\n\n6. Affirm the duty of the biological father of a child who is\n\nto be born or who is born outside of marriage to exercise his\n\nparental responsibilities for the child. This includes the duty to\n\ninform himself about the existence and needs of any such child and\n\nto exercise parental responsibilities toward that child even before\n\nbirth;\n\n7. Encourage prebirth planning for adoption as a means of\n\nfacilitating adoption of a child into a permanent family as soon as\n\npossible. To that end, the Oklahoma Adoption Code provides for a\n\nprebirth notice of a plan for adoption and for procedures by which a\n\nputative father may give his consent or otherwise respond to the\n\nnotice;\n\n8. Ensure that children placed for adoption will be raised in\n\nstable, permanent loving families whose qualifications for adoption\n\nhave been properly evaluated in light of the child's needs;\n\n9. Promote and strengthen the integrity and finality of\n\nadoptions by limiting the time and circumstances for a consent to be\n\nwithdrawn or a challenge to the adoption filed; and\n\n10. Recognize the right of all children who have been adopted\n\nto have access to information about their social and medical\n\nhistory.\n\nB. It is the intent of the Legislature to balance the privacy\n\nrights of all parties to an adoption while clarifying when and to\n\nwhom information may be released. The Legislature seeks to promote\n\nvoluntary reunions, provide for confidential intermediaries, and\n\ncollect and maintain social and medical information relating to the\n\nadoption in the recognition that all children should have access to\n\nknowledge about their heritage.","path":["OK Code","Title 10"],"source_url":"https://www.oklegislature.gov/OK_Statutes/CompleteTitles/os10.pdf","current_through":"2026-08-14","vintage":"open-us-law v2026.08, retrieved 2026-09-14","retrieved_at":"2026-09-14T18:32:36Z","sha256":"fdd2ce3aad323cabf1f3a837a10c78992870d43955ba53d38aee91d991875374","source_id":"us-ok","stale":false,"prev":"us-ok/okla.-stat.-tit.-10-10-7501-1.1","next":"us-ok/okla.-stat.-tit.-10-10-7501-1.3"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}