View Full Version : How do I file for child abandonment and when can I file?
taylorportia
Oct 9, 2011, 08:26 PM
My name is portia and my little girl is 13 months old and her blood dad is up and gone, I still have the same address and number but he has not try to contact me at all about her... can my soon to be husband adopt her with out her blood dad having any say and with out us going to court
taylorportia
Oct 9, 2011, 08:32 PM
Note that I live in Indiana and her dads name is not on the birth certificate
Synnen
Oct 10, 2011, 03:56 AM
Nope.
If people could just decide to adopt children because they don't like the way the biological parents are acting, then someone could decide to take YOUR rights away and take your daughter from you.
1. Get a lawyer.
2. Get married.
3. Determine whether the biological father will voluntarily relinquish so that an adoption can go through.
4. If he WILL, then file for adoption in the courts.
5. If he WON'T, then you have to PROVE that it is in your child's best interest for the courts to sever his parental rights involuntarily so that the adoption can go through.
You MUST go through the courts and you MUST have either the biological father's permission for the adoption or proof that the court cannot ignore that it is in your child's best interest for the adoption to go through.
PS--the dad NOT being on the birth certificate actually makes this HARDER. Now you have to prove PATERNITY before you can go forward with any of the rest of it.
ScottGem
Oct 10, 2011, 03:59 AM
Just one thing to add to what Synnen said. If you do not know where the father is, you will have to make a "good faith" effort to find him. If you can show the court that you have done so, the adoption will probably be granted.
Your attorney can tell you what has to be done to prove this good faith effort.