Hello. I'm wondering if it's possible that a judge/court would terminate parental rights without the father's consent, so that my husband could adopt my two children. The biological father has not seen them in 3 1/2 years by his own choice (his family does come visit, we're only 3 hrs. away), but child support is automatically withdrawn from his checks.
I asked him five years ago if he'd let my husband adopt my kids and he said absolutely not. He's never had a relationship with them more than seeing them once a year the first couple of years (they are 8 & 11). So, is it possible for my husband to adopt them without his permission? I truly feel that it would be best for my husband to adopt them; he's been "Daddy" since they were very young. My biggest motivation for doing so would be because I worry what would happen if I were to die (I'm not sick or anything, but my dad died when I was 15 unexpectedly, so this is always on my radar). Oh, I live in the state of Washington, if that helps. Thank you so much for any advice you can give me.

Where I live you need the fathers consent if you are able to find him, and you need to prove that you tried to find him. I really doubt he can adopt them without his consent.

Termination of parental rights is a serious business. It is rarely granted involuntarily. When it is its because the father presents a danger to the child.

If the bio father refuses I doubt if any court will override him. You could try explain that the adoption will end the child support. But if he refuses you are stuck.

As everyone has said, you will need to bio fathers consent for your husband to adopt.

Since he is paying child support, regardless of how he pays (he's still paying), in the courts eyes he has not technically abandoned the children because he is paying support.

As Scott said, you could try and use the child support as leverage though, sadly that sometimes works because they want to get out of paying child support.

You could take it to court anyway, but it will be a waste of money, because if the father does not want to give up rights, the judge isn't going to take them away.