My ex is not in the birth certificate as my daughters father. We broke up when I was like 2 months pregnant and so he was not present at the day of her birth, he did not sign the birth cert. only me, and he's not around. In this case, will it be necessary to still contact him or can the process be done without him being present or his permission?

First its not a good idea to piggyback your question on someone else's. This can lead to confusion. You should start a new thread. So I've moved your question to its own thread.

Yes, the court will require that you at least make a good faith effort to get the bio father to agree to the adoption. What good faith means will vary with each judge. Your attorney will help you determine what you need to do.