My wife is from thailand, she has a 14 year old son, we all agree to me adopting him, can I adopt him without his fathers permission. His father lives in singapore, and has no contact at all with the boy or his mother, his address is not known either. Does my wife's son, my step son has any legal rights for instance agreeing or consenting to be adopted.. We all live in the uk, as a family.

You should consult a solicitor. You need to have someone prepare the paperwork to file with the local family court. The solicitor can tell you what you need to do deal with the absence of the boy's father.

Were your wife and her ex legally married?

If they were not legally married, by Thai laws, even his name was in birth certificate, the baby is solely hers. All she has to do is contact local registrar office, obtain a document certified that the baby is hers, no father involved.

If they were legally married, see what indicates in divorce decree. Normally father pay child support and mother gets physical custody. If he abandoned his rights, then she has to file to family court in her hometown, she will be granted sole custody.

When she completed one of the above, you can proceed with adoption.

Regarding the immigration issue, the child is a derivative beneficiary of his mother, so he will automatically be eligible to obtain status similar to the mother. So adoption is optional.

On personal note: I would suggest adoption to be made after you are certain that this marriage is genuine and likely to be a long term marriage. Otherwise, if you end up in divorce, you will get stuck with adopted child which is legally your responsibility until he reaches legal age.


Lawanwadee

First I wish to tell you I am proud of men who will come in and be a father to a boy whose real father is not doing his job.
Get your local legal help, if you don't do it properly, it can come back and hurt you.

I agree 100% with everything that the posters have written. I could add this... although not in contact, he still has rights, rights that would be required to be waived before handed over to someone else. It's highly admirable to raise someone else's child. One question would be do you have any idea where the father is or last known address? Some laws state that you have to file a notice in a legal newspaper in the county of the persons last known address. All states, countries are most likely different. Second question would be how long have you been married or in this child's life? The child is 4 years away from him being an adult himself so, not to say what's the point, but what's the reasoning? With this adoption do you intend to change his name or is there some other reason for this action at this point? Please don't get me wrong it's a nice gesture and admirable, I have a 14 year old as well and I couldn't imagine that he would want that at his age, I'm just wondering? Please respond...