If an adopted student locates his or her birth parents and is now living with them, the adopted student must still use his or her adoptive parents on the FAFSA. Adoption terminates the parental rights of the birth parents. So unless the birth parents themselves adopt the student, they are no longer considered the student's parent.

If the student has had no contact with his or her adoptive parents for more than a year, the financial aid administrator could make a case for a dependency override on the grounds of abandonment. The student does not revert to his or her birth parents in such a situation.

Any support the student receives from his or her birth parents gets listed on Worksheet B. The restriction against including support from one's parents does not apply, as the birth parents are no longer considered the student's parents for financial aid purposes.