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Liane23 · Jun 29, 2007, 03:00 PM

Can my boyfriend, soon to be husband adopt my 2 year old son if there is no fathers name on my sons birth certificate. I live in Washington State not sure what the adoption laws are here.

danielnoahsmommy · Jun 29, 2007, 04:41 PM

Check with a family law attorney. Do not have boyfriend adopt child as you do not have a permanent relationship to have a permanent obligation.

Fr_Chuck · Jun 29, 2007, 06:41 PM

Normally the father of the child will have to be contacted and asked to sign over his rights, If you are not sure, the courts may ask for possible suspects to have DNA tests done. Each state will have various rules.

Not being listed on the Birth certificate does not stop the bio father from having rights,

s_cianci · Jun 30, 2007, 03:42 PM

A judge would probably want you to track down the father and get his consent prior to authorizing an adoption, even if there's no father listed on the birth certificate. If you can demonstrate that you've made a good faith effort to do this but his whereabouts are unknown and your attempts to contact him are unsuccessful, that should suffice.

Synnen · Jul 1, 2007, 10:11 PM

Originally Posted by j-lee

if you want your boyfriend to adopt your child, no name on the birth certificate
then just get your boyfriend named on the birth certificate, thats what I did.

This is a VERY bad idea, in so many ways.

1. If your boyfriend decides to break up with you, and wants nothing more to do with the child, he can demand a DNA test to get out of child support (depending on the state, and the time frame, obviously)

2. If the child's biological father shows up and wants custody, he can demand DNA tests, and it may look bad for you in court that you lied on the birth certificate.

3. The child has the right to know its genealogy, for MEDICAL reasons, if for nothing else. Lying on the birth certificate is lying to your child. I firmly believe that every adopted child has the RIGHT to know that they were adopted.

To the OP--talk to a family lawyer. Most of the time, it's a matter of getting the birth father to sign off on his parental rights, and then for the adoption to go through family courts.