How do I get a fathers rights taken away, he hasn't been around in 5 years

Has he harmed the child? Been in prison for 5 years? Put the child in harm's way?

No? Then you probably cant. If he hasn't been around in 5 years he isn't using his rights anyway so what are you hoping to gain?

If you are remarried and your husband wants to adopt its possible to do that based on abandonment but that will depend on what state you live in and how good your lawyer is.

Yes it can be done but it is a very long process. First of all get a lawyer. It depends on what state you live in. I live in PA and I adopted my wife's daughter. The lawyer will file a petition for involuntary termination of parental rights and also a petition for voluntary termination of parental rights. If you could get the so called father to sign the voluntary petition somehow then his rights are gone and its just a bunch of paperwork. If you want the court to strip his rights away then you better have a heck of case against him. Our daughters bio father hasn't seen or talked to her in 5 yrs, has been in and out of jail, and owed 9000.00 in back child support and we had a tough time so... Good Luck!

I am sorry, I hope CJEEP did not give you false hope, first it is very hard, and even in cases like thiers, many judges still will not but only limit visits if they father wants them.

First we need to know, does he pay child support, is there even a child support order in place, where is the order from, ( country and if US what state) Does he pay child support, even if garnished,
How old is the child. And has he been in prison long term.

Some states will take away for long term prison sentence, others will not.

I am sorry, I hope CJEEP did not give you false hope, first it is very hard, and even in cases like thiers, many judges still will not but only limit visits if they father wants them.


That's funny because I did it in Pennsylvania. I'm not saying that it is easy. But if there has been no contact by the father it can be done in a lot of states. Please don't insult my intelligence when I have walked down that path personally.

First, please pay more attention to posting guidelines. At the top of the Children forum, where you originally posted this, is a Read First Sticky that refers question of a legal nature to this forum. Had you gone to this forum you would have found a sticky note that addresses this issue as well as thousands of threads that discuss it.

The bottom line here is that courts are VERY reluctant to grant a TPR. Generally they will only do so to clear the way for an adoption or if the parent represents a danger to the child. Since there has been no contact for 5 years the later wouldn't seem to apply.

If there has been no contact then what advantage do you feel would be gained by trying to get a TPR?

Thats funny because I did it in Pennsylvania. I'm not saying that it is easy. But if there has been no contact by the father it can be done in a lot of states. Please don't insult my intelligence when I have walked down that path personally.

Please don't cop an attitude. We pride ourselves on the quality of the advice given here. And a person's experience in ONE instance does not mean it applies to all. Just because you accomplished something doesn't mean the OP can accomplish the same thing given different circumstances.

The key advantage you had was that you were trying to adopt your step daughter. As I said in my answer, clearing the way for an adoption is one of the two reasons a TPR is granted. But the OP did not specify WHY they wanted a TPR. And the way your response was worded, could be false hope if adoption was not in the OP's plans.