My situation is a little bit complicated, I had a baby boy with an American citizen (NY), I am from Costa Rica (Central America) our son was born here(CR) on 2003, when he was a new born we went to the American embassy and requested the birth certificate abroad, my son who is 4 now has an american passport, his father of course gave him his last name.

Now his father and I never got married, we went back and forth all the time, he lived here for 4 months then he left for 2 months, then me and our son moved to NY for 6 months, then came back and so on, the most time my baby's father used to be away from our son was 4 months.

The situation now is different, its been one year since he hasnt visited my son, out of that year he has sent money only once in april this year, but that is not the question, luckily I was able to file a lawsuit for child support here in Costa Rica and he will be notifyed in Ny and forced to pay for child support soon.

My question is....by him not visiting my son for one year...could this be considered abandonment?? could the fahter-son relationship be terminated because of this?

I think is important for me to tell you that I havent changed my phone number or residence, he hasnt attempted not even once to come to Costa Rica to see him.....

I hope you can answer my question...because I feel one year is too long and I am starting to see the emotional harm this is causing to my son

THANKS

GV70

Does he pay child support?

elawrence1980

Usually it is 6 months of no contact... no child support, visitation, phone calls, letters, etc. to constitute abandonment.

macksmom

Filing abandonment charges will not terminate his rights if that's what you are hoping for.

You could file abandonment, if his absence meet the requirements for abandonment where you live, but then you would have to file to terminate his parental rights.

In the states, the usually will only be done if someone is willing to adopt the child in the bio fathers place. If the bio father fights it, his rights will not be terminated.

ScottGem

There seems to be this misconception about child abandonment. Child abandonment is a ground, not a charge. This means that you want to file to terminate rights on the grounds of abandonment. However, at least in the US, termination of rights is rarely granted, usually only in the case of someone waiting to adopt or where the parent represents a danger to the child.

My question to you is what do you think charging him with abandonment will get you? You say you won a support order that will force him to pay. That will negate any abandonment grounds. But even if you got that done, what good do you think it will do you?