Adoption questions

A friend is a single mom to a kid (unmarried, but the father's name is on the birth cert.) She's getting married to her boyfriend this November and the couple want to adopt the kid, if they can afford it. I'm just helping research about it for now, if anyone can help?

1. I understand it could take 2-3 years-- roughly, how much would the entire adoption process cost (govt fees)? ~100k?

2. How much would a fair PF be if a lawyer handles this? ~100k?

3. I have no idea how simple/complicated the paperwork for this would be--is it feasible for them to file the adoption papers and see the entire process themselves without a lawyer's help?

4. I came across a forum that mentioned that BOTH single mom and future dad will need to adopt him, is this correct? Not just the dad?

Thanks!

I have no idea how much a lawyer would charge.  You can call a few and ask,  They will get as much as they think you can or will pay.

Government fees are not much, unless the husband is foreign, then about P10,000 more.  (about $200 more, still not too much)

Father who signed the BC, must give permission, unless you can allege abandonment.

In my opinion you can do it yourself.  Takes a lot of time to google and read and study.  Don't expect to feel comfortable that you know what to do after your first reading.  Just keep going over it and it will get easier to understand and see the whole picture.

Yes, married couple must adopt jointly.

Thanks for the reply, tompmiller, particularly regarding the 3rd point.

Just in case others would find this info helpful:

It seems lawyers would charge from 100k to as much as 300k for a local adoption wide range, so it is important to ask more than just one if budget is taken into consideration.

The entire process as estimated by them range from 1 year to up to 3 years.

And as tompmillers' reply mentioned, govt fees are very minimal. It seems the biggest bulk of cost would be the newspaper publication and lawyer's fee.