I would like to adopt my girlfriends child. Can I do this? The child is 8 years old. Her father did not sign her birth cirtifi. He never had a DNA test or any thing. Has never even seen the child in her 8 years of life.

After you get married and have been for a years time then you can start searching for the father of the child. Oce found then drag him into court and have him declared the legal father by a judge and he can later sign off on the adoption.

But.. If the mother has been hiding the fact she gave birth and never told the father and he objects you have a battle ahead of you.