I am a mother of an 8 year old daughter in Maryland and I need some advice about her father and my fiancé. My ex-husband, my daughter's father, has not had much contact with her since 2002. He abandon her for a year and a half. He never called her and no one could find him to serve him for child support and divorce papers. Then they finally caught up with him and he is paying child support, but not all of it. He pays about half the monthly payment. I am on public assistance and he is paying that back right now. Since 2003 he has seen her two times. He doesn't call her that much. When he does, he says is going to call two or three times a week but he only calls about two times that week and then she doesn't hear from him for 1-3 months. When he does talk to her he is only on the phone for about 5 minutes, except for the rare time he was on the phone for 10 minutes. She had become very angry about this, but now she doesn't want to talk to him anymore. She has told me she doesn't want to talk to him anymore after her last conversation with him, which, surprisingly, it was for 30 minutes, and that was because she was expressing how she felt about his lack of calling her. She finally got to say the things she wanted to say to him and ask him the questions she has been wanting to ask, but all he could give her was excuses and bad mouth her. He called her names and said she was not smart and that she skipped a grade and didn't know how to talk. She has put these conversations on speaker phone so I can hear how he has been talking to her. This has angered her and now she has no desire to talk to him anymore. He doesn't see her either. He has a suspended license due to fines and he has not paid those fines so he can get his license back. He has since 2002 to do this and he has not tried to pay the fines. The fines are about $500 total.

I am engaged and getting married in a couple of months and my fiancé wants to adopt my daughter. My daughter wants this very much. As far as she is concerned, my fiancé is her daddy, and my ex-husband is her father, not that she wants anyone to say that or his name. My fiancé treats her like she is his daughter, and she treats my fiancé like he is her daddy. I found out that when she is at school she talks about my fiancé all the time. She is excited to have him in her life. I wanted to know is it possible to get her father's parental rights taken away and to have my fiancé adopt her so he can legally be her father and raise her with me. We want to be a happy family, and she wants to have his name too. She wants this to happen right now but I told her it is going to take time, there are some procedures we have to go through. Currently, the last time he call was October 15, and he has not called since. I have made many efforts to keep the communication between my daughter and her father, but no avail. My friends say that I have given him too many chances, but I didn't want her to not know her father. I am done giving him chances it is time for her to be happy and having me and my fiancé as her parents is what is going to make her happy. Is it possible to get his parental rights taken away since he is not in her life much. I have documented every time he calls and how long the calls last. And, is it possible to have my fiancé be her adopted father? Let me know. Thanks.

Talk to a family lawyer.

What you're looking for is possible, but I doubt they'd simply take his rights away. He may be willing to sign them over voluntarily, though, which would clear the way for adoption. Many states look for a permanent relationship for an adoption to take place though--you may have to wait until you are married for your boyfriend to adopt her.

A lawyer would be able to tell you what you need to do to get the ball rolling.