A stepfather, a mother and their daughter on the courthouse steps on adoption day, the girl holding a teddy bear and the decree folder

Stepparent adoption in Colorado: consent, the one-year grounds, and the decree.

A stepparent adoption does two things at once: it makes the stepparent a legal parent for all purposes, and it ends the other birth parent’s rights and duties for good. It needs that parent’s consent or a ground the statute names — death, an earlier termination, or one year of abandonment or unexcused non-support — plus background checks and a best-interests finding. The law, as of September 2026.

01Who may adopt, and where
02Consent: the three routes
03Abandonment and non-support
04Petition, checks, no home study
05The hearing and the decree
06What the decree changes
07Forms, fees and time
→What people ask first

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A stepparent adoption is a termination case with an adoption at the end of it.

The families who call me about a stepparent adoption have usually been a family for years. The stepparent drives to school, sits in the emergency room, pays for the braces, and has no legal standing to do any of it. The other birth parent may be absent, occasional or entirely gone. The adoption fixes the paperwork, and much more: after the decree the child is, in the statute’s words, “for all intents and purposes, the child of the petitioner,” and the other parent is “divested of all legal rights and obligations with respect to the child” (C.R.S. § 19-5-211(1), (2)). The parent married to the stepparent keeps every right (C.R.S. § 19-5-211(3)).

That second effect is why the case is harder than the forms make it look. A consent form alone does not finish it. The court must find that the child is available for adoption, that the adoption serves the child’s best interests and that the background checks are clean, and it must enter an order terminating the other parent’s rights (C.R.S. § 19-5-210(2), (6)). When the other parent will not consent, the case turns on one year of that parent’s conduct, and on intent. This page states the law and the court’s forms as of September 2026, including the court’s instructions revised in May 2026. It does not cover agency, foster or international adoptions.

A man and a woman seen from behind, watching a youth soccer game with the foothills beyond — A parent for all purposes, from the decree forward

1 year

Abandonment or non-support

Either ground alone: the other parent abandoned the child, or failed without cause to provide reasonable support, for a period of one year or more.

The child’s own consent

A child twelve or older must consent to the adoption in writing.

35 days

Minimum after notice

Without consent, the hearing comes no sooner than thirty-five days after service of the notice is complete.

91 days

To attack the decree

For a procedural defect; one year for fraud in a stepparent adoption. Then the decree stands.

Who may adopt, and where the case is filed: the married stepparent.

“Any person twenty-one years of age or older” may petition to adopt (C.R.S. § 19-5-202(1)). A married person must petition jointly with the spouse “unless such spouse is the natural parent of the child to be adopted” (C.R.S. § 19-5-202(3)), which is what makes a stepparent adoption a one-petitioner case.

Question	The rule	Authority
Who adopts	The spouse of the child’s parent, twenty-one or older. A civil-union partner uses the same process. An unmarried partner cannot: the route is second-parent adoption, which requires a home study.	C.R.S. § 19-5-202(1), (3), (5); C.R.S. § 19-5-203(1)(d.5)
Who may be adopted	A child under eighteen who is legally available and either present in Colorado when the petition is filed or under the jurisdiction of a Colorado court for at least six months. A person eighteen to twenty-one may be adopted as a child with the court’s approval.	C.R.S. § 19-5-201
Where	The juvenile court, in the county where the petitioner lives. In Denver that is the Denver Juvenile Court; elsewhere, the district court’s juvenile division.	C.R.S. § 19-5-204; C.R.S. § 19-1-104(1)(g); C.R.S. § 13-8-103
An Indian child	The petition must include the Indian-child inquiry statement, amended in 2025, and Indian Child Welfare Act issues may follow.	C.R.S. § 19-5-208(2.5)

Two requirements people often assume are not in the statute: the stepparent need not have lived with the child for six months, and the petitioner need not have lived in Colorado for six months. The statute’s six-month language is about the child, and only as an alternative to the child’s presence in the state.

Consent: the three routes, and the child’s own.

A child is available for a stepparent adoption only on one of the grounds in C.R.S. § 19-5-203(1). The court’s instructions include your spouse’s written, verified consent (JDF 509). What differs is the other parent: consenting, gone, or found by the court to have abandoned or failed to support the child.

The three routes.

The other parent	What the statute requires	The forms
Consents	Written and verified consent of the other parent: under paragraph (1)(e) where parental responsibilities were allocated to your spouse in a divorce, or (1)(f) where the parents were not married when the child was conceived and born. The Colorado Supreme Court has held that a father’s knowing written consent could not be undone by a claimed side agreement about visits (In re Petition of S.O., 795 P.2d 254 (Colo. 1990)).	JDF 510 (the other parent’s consent)
Has died, or has already lost parental rights	Your spouse’s written and verified consent “where the other parent is deceased or his parent-child legal relationship has been terminated” (C.R.S. § 19-5-203(1)(d)(I)).	The death certificate or the termination order
Will not consent, or cannot be found	Your spouse’s consent with an affidavit or sworn testimony that the other parent abandoned the child, or failed without cause to support the child, for one year or more; notice to that parent; a hearing no sooner than thirty-five days after service (C.R.S. § 19-5-203(1)(d)(II)).	JDF 525 (affidavit of abandonment); JDF 506 (notice) or JDF 526, 517 and 518 (search and publication)

The consents and filings that are easy to miss.

The child’s. “Written consent to any proposed adoption shall be obtained from the person to be adopted if such person is twelve years of age or older” (C.R.S. § 19-5-203(2)), on JDF 511.

The termination petition. Because the decree must end the other parent’s rights, the court’s instructions require a petition to terminate the parent-child legal relationship (JDF 520) in every stepparent adoption, consent or not. The statute puts the duty to file it on the person with custody when one parent consents (C.R.S. § 19-5-105(1)).

Visits after the adoption. A side promise of visits does not undo a knowing consent. The statutory vehicle for continued contact is a post-adoption contact agreement, which “only the petitioner may request”; it may cover birth parents and birth relatives, and a child twelve or older must consent to it (C.R.S. § 19-5-208(4.5)).

A parent no one can identify. The court makes an inquiry, orders notice to all possible parents by publication or posting, and, if no one appears claiming to be the parent, “shall enter an order terminating the unknown birth parent’s parent-child legal relationship with reference to the child” (C.R.S. § 19-5-105(4), (5)).

Without consent: abandonment or non-support, for one year.

The ground is one long sentence of the statute, quoted here in full because every clause of it matters in court.

“Written and verified consent of the parent in a stepparent adoption, accompanied by an affidavit or sworn testimony of such parent, that the other birth parent has abandoned the child for a period of one year or more or that the other birth parent has failed without cause to provide reasonable support for such child for a period of one year or more. Upon filing of the petition in adoption, the court shall issue a notice directed to the other parent, which notice shall state the nature of the relief sought, the names of the petitioner and the child, and the time and place set for hearing on the petition. If the address of the other parent is known, service of such notice shall be in the manner provided by the Colorado rules of civil procedure for service of process. Upon affidavit by the petitioner that, after diligent search, the address of the other parent remains unknown, the court shall order service upon the other parent by one publication of the notice in a newspaper of general circulation in the county in which the hearing is to be held. The hearing shall not be held sooner than thirty-five days after service of the notice is complete, and, at such time, the court may enter a final decree of adoption notwithstanding the time limitation in section 19-5-210 (2).” (C.R.S. § 19-5-203(1)(d)(II))

The 2026 Colorado child support guidelines and a support worksheet on a desk beside two W-2 forms — The twelve months before filing are the case

How the courts read it.

Either ground is enough. Abandonment turns on the parent’s intent over the twelve months before filing; non-support turns on means and cause.

Two grounds, not one. Abandonment “or” failure to support. Either is enough, and they are proved differently.

Abandonment is about intent. In D.P.H. v. J.L.B., 260 P.3d 320 (Colo. 2011), the Supreme Court held that “abandonment is primarily a question of intent,” decided by asking “whether, under the totality of the circumstances, the parent’s intent during the twelve months preceding the commencement of the adoption proceeding was to abandon the child.” It reversed a ruling that the father’s parenting-time motions defeated abandonment essentially as a matter of law, and held that the adoption court need not wait for a pending parenting-time motion if it considers it. The Court of Appeals has said that a single phone call in the year before filing does not bar a finding of abandonment, and has found no intent to abandon where a court order barred contact for most of the year and the parent kept litigating.

Non-support is about means and cause. The year is the consecutive twelve months immediately before the petition, prison does not excuse all support, and once non-support is found the court must look beyond the year at the likelihood of future support (In re R.H.N., 710 P.2d 482 (Colo. 1985)). The Court of Appeals has said an earlier support order is not a prerequisite. Reasonable support is measured against what the parent could pay.

Best interests still decides. A ground makes the child available; it does not make the adoption right. The court must find that the adoption serves the child’s best interests (C.R.S. § 19-5-210(2)(d)), and courts look at stability, the effect of ending the relationship, the child’s emotional ties, adjustment, age and health.

A consent form does not finish a stepparent adoption. The court still decides whether ending the other parent’s rights serves the child.

The petition and the background checks, and the home study you do not need.

The petition is verified, filed one per child (JDF 502), and carries more attachments than most families expect.

What the petition carries

Attachments.

Verification, and “the full name by which the child shall be known after adoption” (C.R.S. § 19-5-208(2))
The Indian-child inquiry statement (C.R.S. § 19-5-208(2.5))
A standardized affidavit disclosing “any and all fees, costs, or expenses” charged in connection with the adoption, JDF 454 (C.R.S. § 19-5-208(4))
A statement whether the stepparent was ever convicted, and “a current criminal history records check paid for by the petitioner” (C.R.S. § 19-5-208(5))
Under the court’s instructions: CBI and FBI fingerprint checks dated within ninety days before filing, and a TRAILS check of the state’s child-abuse records

What stops a decree

Convictions.

A felony conviction for child abuse or neglect, spousal abuse, a crime against a child, or a crime involving violence, rape, sexual assault or homicide (C.R.S. § 19-5-210(4))
In a stepparent adoption, a felony conviction for physical assault or battery committed within the past five years
An omitted conviction: the fingerprint check will show it, and the petition is sworn

No home study, by statute.

The home-study statute opens with the exception: “Except for stepparent adoptions, kinship adoptions, custodial adoptions, and those cases in which placement for adoption has been made by the court,” a petition that arrives without a consent and a home study report leads the court to order an investigation (C.R.S. § 19-5-209(1)). A stepparent adoption is outside that rule. Second-parent adoption by an unmarried partner is not; it requires one.

The hearing and the decree: what the judge must find.

“In stepparent, custodial, or kinship adoptions, the court shall hold a hearing on the petition as soon as possible” (C.R.S. § 19-5-210(2)). The hearing is closed to the public (C.R.S. § 19-5-210(5)(a)). Before a decree can enter, the court must be satisfied as to four things, and it must review the criminal-history results.

The four findings.

The finding	The statute’s words	What proves it
Availability	“The availability of the child for adoption”	The consents; or the proof of abandonment or non-support; or the death certificate or earlier termination order
The home	“The good moral character, the ability to support and educate the child, and the suitableness of the home”	The stepparent’s testimony, the background checks, the household’s ordinary facts
The child	“The mental and physical condition of the child as a proper subject for adoption in said home”	Testimony about the child’s health, school and adjustment
Best interests	“The fact that the best interests of the child will be served by the adoption”	The relationship with the stepparent, the relationship being ended, and the consent of a child twelve or older

A magistrate’s courtroom: a lawyer standing to address the bench, her client seated beside her — A closed hearing, set as soon as possible

At the hearing, and the order that goes with the decree.

A closed hearing, four findings, and two orders: the decree of adoption and the termination of the other parent’s rights.

Notice and timing. When the other parent has consented or has died, the hearing is set as soon as the court can hear it. When the other parent is being served, it cannot come sooner than thirty-five days after service is complete, and that parent may appear and contest abandonment or non-support; the court decides on the evidence.

Two orders, not one. “In a stepparent adoption, in addition to issuing a final decree of adoption, the court shall enter an order terminating the other parent’s parental rights” (C.R.S. § 19-5-210(6)). The forms are the findings and decree (JDF 521) and the final decree (JDF 522), and a report of adoption goes to Vital Records.

The name. “The former name of the child shall not be stated in the final decree of adoption” (C.R.S. § 19-5-210(3)). The new name is the one the petition asked for.

Finality. “No final decree of adoption shall be attacked by reason of any jurisdictional or procedural defect after the expiration of ninety-one days following the entry of the final decree,” and in a stepparent adoption an attack for fraud on the court or on a party must come within one year. Even then the court “shall sustain the decree unless there is clear and convincing evidence that the decree is not in the best interests of the child” (C.R.S. § 19-5-214). A decree obtained on a false claim that the other parent could not be found is the kind of fraud that invites an attack. Do the search, and document it.

What the decree changes: support, inheritance, the birth certificate, the grandparents.

The decree, effect by effect.

	The rule	Authority
The stepparent	A parent for all purposes: the child “is entitled to all the rights and privileges and is subject to all the obligations of a child born to the petitioner.” A later divorce does not undo it; the stepparent remains a parent, with a parent’s duty of support.	C.R.S. § 19-5-211(1)
The parent married to the stepparent	Unchanged: nothing divests a natural parent “where the adopting parent is a stepparent and is married to said natural parent.”	C.R.S. § 19-5-211(3)
The other birth parent	“Divested of all legal rights and obligations with respect to the child”: no parenting time, no decision-making, no future support.	C.R.S. § 19-5-211(2)
Support already owed	Not forgiven. The Court of Appeals has refused to relieve a parent of support that accrued before the decree.	Colorado Court of Appeals
Inheritance	One way. The child keeps the right to inherit “from or through the other genetic parent”; that parent does not inherit from the child.	C.R.S. § 15-11-119(2)
Birth certificate	A new certificate issues unless the court, an adoptive parent or the adopted person asks that none be prepared; it is marked as issued pursuant to adoption only on request; the original is sealed. The court’s instructions estimate four to six weeks.	C.R.S. § 19-5-212(2); C.R.S. § 25-2-113
The other side’s grandparents	The parents of a parent whose rights were terminated fall outside the grandparent definition for new family-time requests; an existing order is an open question. See Grandparent & Non-Parent Rights.	C.R.S. § 14-10-124.4(2)(a)
Parental leave	The adoption parental-leave provision does not apply to stepparent or second-parent adoptions.	C.R.S. § 19-5-211(1.5)

A kraft envelope closed with a red wax seal beside a black binder, window blinds drawn against a city skyline — The original certificate is sealed

The inheritance point, often misunderstood.

The other parent loses everything. The child keeps one thing: the right to inherit from and through that parent.

The usual shorthand is that the other birth parent “loses all rights.” The parent does. The child does not lose everything. Colorado’s probate code says that when a stepparent adopts, a parent-child relationship continues with “the other genetic parent, but only for the purpose of the right of the adoptee or a descendant of the adoptee to inherit from or through the other genetic parent” (C.R.S. § 15-11-119(2)(b)). If the other parent dies without a will, the adopted child can still inherit. The reverse is not true.

The records. The hearing is closed, the former name stays out of the decree, and the original birth certificate is sealed when the new one issues (C.R.S. § 25-2-113(3)). A family that wants the new certificate marked as issued pursuant to adoption, or wants no new certificate at all, says so (C.R.S. § 25-2-113(1)(a), (2)(b)).

A name change on its own. The adoption petition sets the child’s new name. A family that wants only a new surname, without an adoption, uses a different procedure, with notice to the other parent: see Name Change After Divorce.

Forms, fees and time: the court’s May 2026 instructions.

The court’s instructions for a stepparent adoption are JDF 500, revised in May 2026. The steps, in order:

Before filing
Background checks.
CBI and FBI fingerprint checks dated within ninety days before filing, and a TRAILS check from the Department of Human Services.
The filing
The petition and its attachments.
JDF 502 (one per child), JDF 454 (fees affidavit), JDF 509 (your spouse’s consent), JDF 511 (a child twelve or older), JDF 520 (petition to terminate the other parent’s rights), and JDF 525 if the case rests on abandonment or non-support.
The other parent
Consent, service, or publication.
JDF 510 if the other parent consents; JDF 506 (notice and summons), served personally or waived on JDF 507, if the parent refuses but can be found; JDF 526 (diligent search), 517 and 518 (publication) if the parent cannot be found.
The hearing
As soon as possible.
No sooner than thirty-five days after service is complete when the other parent has not consented.
The decree
Findings, decree, report.
JDF 521 and 522, and the report of adoption. Vital Records contacts the family; the instructions estimate four to six weeks for the new Colorado birth certificate.

What the court charges.

Cost	Amount	Source
Filing fee, per child	$197 (the statutory docket fee is $167)	JDF 500 (May 2026); C.R.S. § 13-32-101(1)(g)
Response fee	$222	JDF 500
Several children, same facts, filed the same day	One filing fee, plus a vital-statistics fee for each additional child	JDF 500
Fingerprinting, CBI and FBI checks, TRAILS, publication, certified copies, the new birth certificate	Separate charges set by each agency or newspaper	Confirm each before filing

I do not publish a range for legal fees or a typical number of months, because I have found no reliable source for either and every case turns on whether the other parent consents. I quote my own fee after reading the facts.

What I tell every family before a stepparent adoption.

Six things, in the order they come up. Not legal advice for your case; the mistakes I have watched for thirty years.

Across a conference table from her lawyer, a woman listens, a closed folder in front of her, the foothills in the window

Ask for consent before you allege abandonment.
Many absent parents sign. A consent is faster, cheaper and harder to attack than a finding of abandonment.
Pull the payment history first.
In a non-support case the twelve months before filing are the case. Get the records before you choose the ground.
Date the petition deliberately.
The year is the twelve consecutive months before filing. One visit or payment inside that window changes the analysis, and filing a month early can cost you the ground.
Do the search, and write it down.
If the other parent cannot be found, a documented diligent search protects the decree. A thin one invites an attack within the year.
Talk to your child first.
At twelve the child must consent. Younger children should hear about it from you, in words that fit their age, before a court date.
Collect the back support separately.
The decree ends future support. What was already owed stays owed.

Six things people get wrong.

The stepparent must live with the child for six months first.

Not in the statute. The six-month language concerns the child’s tie to a Colorado court, and only as an alternative to presence in the state.

A consent form finishes the case.

The court must still find availability, suitability and best interests, review the criminal-history results, and enter an order terminating the other parent’s rights.

A year without payments makes the child available.

Only a failure “without cause” to provide reasonable support, measured against the parent’s means, and the court still decides best interests.

The adoption wipes out the back support.

Future support ends at the decree. Support already owed does not.

The child loses the right to inherit from the other parent.

The child keeps the right to inherit from or through that parent. Only the reverse ends.

A stepparent adoption needs a home study.

The home-study statute excepts stepparent adoptions. The background checks are required instead.

What to bring, and what to settle first.

Before the first meeting

Bring the record.

Your marriage certificate and the child’s birth certificate
The divorce decree or custody orders, the parenting plan and every support order
The support payment history for at least the last two years
A record of the other parent’s contact over the same period: visits, calls, texts, cards, gifts, with dates
The other parent’s last known address, and how you have tried to reach them
Anything about tribal membership or eligibility, for the Indian-child statement

Before you file

Five things settled first.

Which consent route fits, and whether the other parent will sign
Whether the last twelve months actually support abandonment or non-support
The child’s new full name, and whether the child is twelve or older
Fingerprints and TRAILS, timed to fall inside the ninety days
Whether a post-adoption contact agreement makes sense for anyone on the other side

A stepparent adoption makes the family on paper match the family at the dinner table. The year before filing decides whether it can.

Start with a confidential conversation: tell me about your family →

The stepparent adoption questions that fill my inbox.

Does the other parent have to consent to a stepparent adoption in Colorado?

Usually, but not always. The other birth parent’s written, verified consent is the ordinary route. Without it, the child can be adopted only if that parent has died, if a court has already terminated that parent’s rights, or if the court finds that the parent abandoned the child for a period of one year or more, or failed without cause to provide reasonable support for one year or more. Those are separate grounds; either is enough. Even with consent, the court must find the adoption is in the child’s best interests and must terminate the other parent’s rights in the decree.

What counts as abandonment in a Colorado stepparent adoption?

Abandonment is primarily a question of intent. The Colorado Supreme Court has said the court looks at the totality of the circumstances to decide whether the parent’s intent, during the twelve months before the adoption case was filed, was to abandon the child. Filing parenting-time motions does not defeat abandonment automatically, and a single phone call in the year has not defeated it either. A court order that kept the parent away is a different matter, and it is the first thing I look for.

What counts as failure to support?

Failing, without cause, to provide reasonable support for the child for a period of one year or more, measured against what the parent could pay. The Court of Appeals has said no earlier support order is needed. The Colorado Supreme Court has held that the year is the consecutive twelve months before the petition, that prison does not excuse all support, and that once non-support is shown the court must also look at whether future support is likely. The payment history for that year is the core of the evidence.

Does my stepchild have to agree to the adoption?

Yes, if the child is twelve or older. The statute requires the written consent of the person to be adopted at that age, on the court’s form (JDF 511). Younger children do not sign, but their relationship with the other parent, their adjustment and their own views are part of the best-interests finding the court must make. A child twelve or older must also consent to any post-adoption contact agreement.

Is a home study required for a stepparent adoption in Colorado?

No. The statute that requires a court-ordered investigation and home study report expressly excepts stepparent adoptions, along with kinship and custodial adoptions. What is required instead: a statement about any criminal convictions, a current criminal history check paid for by the petitioner, and, under the court’s instructions, CBI and FBI fingerprint checks within ninety days before filing and a check of the state’s child-abuse records. Certain felony convictions bar the decree.

How much does a stepparent adoption cost in Colorado?

The court’s filing fee is $197 per child under the court’s May 2026 instructions, and a response costs $222. Where several children become available on the same facts and are filed the same day, only an extra vital-statistics fee applies for each additional child. Add fingerprinting and the background checks, publication if the other parent cannot be found, certified copies and the new birth certificate. Legal fees depend mostly on whether the other parent consents; I quote mine after I have read the facts.

How long does a stepparent adoption take?

The statute tells the court to hold the hearing as soon as possible, and I have found no reliable published figure for typical times, so I do not give one. Two fixed points: the fingerprint checks must be dated within ninety days before filing, and when the other parent has not consented, the hearing cannot be held sooner than thirty-five days after service of the notice is complete. After the decree, the court’s instructions estimate four to six weeks for a new Colorado birth certificate.

Does child support stop after a stepparent adoption?

Future support ends. The decree divests the other parent of all legal rights and obligations toward the child, including support. Support that was already owed does not disappear: the Court of Appeals has refused to relieve a parent of support that accrued before the decree. If the adoption rests on non-support, the unpaid support is often the evidence, and it remains owed after the decree.

Can my child still inherit from the other biological parent?

Yes. Colorado’s probate code keeps one link after a stepparent adoption: the child, and the child’s descendants, may still inherit from or through the other genetic parent. It runs one way; that parent does not inherit from the child. The usual shorthand, that the other parent loses all rights, is true of the parent; the child keeps this one.

Will my child get a new birth certificate and a new name?

Yes, unless you ask for none. After the decree the state registrar issues a new birth certificate, the original is sealed, and the new one is marked as issued pursuant to adoption only if someone asks for that. The petition states the full name the child will be known by after the adoption, and the former name does not appear in the final decree. The court’s instructions estimate four to six weeks for the new Colorado certificate.

What if we don't know where the other parent is?

Search first, and document it. If the address is known, the notice is served under the civil rules. If it is still unknown after a diligent search, the court orders one publication of the notice in a newspaper in the county where the hearing will be held, on your affidavit (JDF 526, with JDF 517 and 518). If the parent cannot even be identified, a separate procedure ends the unknown parent’s rights after an inquiry and notice. A false claim that a parent could not be found is the kind of fraud that invites an attack on the decree.

Can a stepparent adoption be undone?

Rarely, and only quickly. No decree can be attacked for a jurisdictional or procedural defect more than ninety-one days after it enters, and in a stepparent adoption an attack for fraud must come within one year. Even then the court sustains the decree unless there is clear and convincing evidence that it is not in the child’s best interests. A later divorce between the parent and the stepparent does not undo it: the stepparent remains a parent, with a parent’s duty of support.

Keep reading

Where to go next.

The next page in this chapter, the pages that belong with it, and the blog posts on the same question.

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A stepparent adoption ends one parent’s rights for good. Let’s make sure the record supports it.

A consultation is a working session, in person in Greenwood Village or by video: we go through the other parent’s last year of contact and support, the orders that exist and the family’s facts, and I tell you which consent route fits, what the court will need to see, and what I would file. Your note reaches my office directly; during business hours we call you back within the hour, run the conflicts check, and set the meeting.