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korinsmommy · Oct 11, 2008, 07:54 AM

My daughter and I live with my boyfriend in MD and her bio-father lives ether in PA or Utah. My daughter calls my boyfriend daddy since he has a youngeer daughter and we have a baby on the way. Her biofather has not been in her life at all, he is a past heroine user and addict, he never wanted anything to do with her and as never had to pay child support. He called the other night wanting to see her well we explained it woould be hard on her and she wouldn't understand (shes two yrs old) so we convcinced him to sign over his parental rights what do we need to do to make sure this gets done?

liz28 · Oct 11, 2008, 01:41 PM

Are you and your boyfriend planning on getting married because I am unsure if you can petition court for adoption if your unwed because most states required that you be marry. Even if your was married most states require that you be marry at least for 1 year. However you can get a lawyer that specialize in adoptions. You stated you convince the father to terminate his rights but of course you have to go through court in order for it to be legal. Contact a lawyer and/or go to your county court.

JudyKayTee · Oct 11, 2008, 01:52 PM

Originally Posted by korinsmommy

my daughter and i live with my boyfriend in MD and her bio-father lives ether in PA or Utah. my daughter calls my boyfriend daddy since he has a youngeer daughter and we have a baby on the way. her biofather has not been in her life at all, he is a past heroine user and addict, he never wanted anything to do with her and as never had to pay child support. he called the other night wanting to see her well we explained it woould be hard on her and she wouldnt understand (shes two yrs old) so we convcinced him to sign over his parental rights what do we need to do to make sure this gets done?

You need an Attorney to make sure you are 100% in accordance with the law BUT the Courts will not - in the vast majority of cases - allow him to terminate unless/until someone else is ready to adopt the child. You and your boyfriend cannot adopt unless you are in a stable MARRIAGE for at least one year because your relationship is not considered to be legally valid.

Here is what the website for the State of Maryland says: "This is commonly called a "second-parent adoption" or, if the couple does marry, a stepparent adoption. Where the adopting couple is married, these adoptions are approved pretty readily, because the couple's relationship is legally valid and the child is already in the home and will stay there even if the adoption is denied."

ScottGem · Oct 11, 2008, 02:48 PM

This question is often asked here. It's a good idea to review past questions before posting to see if there is an answer.

What you need to do is:

Step1 Get married
Step2 Hire an attorney, once you have been married a year
Step3 The attorney prepares the adoption petititon, including the termination of rights request.
Step4 the father signs the request and does whateve else is legall necessary to terminate rights
Step5 the petititon to adopt is presented to a family court judge for approval