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mommaof1monkey
Feb 8, 2014, 08:04 PM
Hello,
My name is Justina and I have a question about whether this situation would be considered child abandonment. I live in Kansas and My child's biological father up and moved to Ohio in June of 2012. He hasn't paid any child support since January of 2012. He hasn't called to talk to our daughter in almost a year. He hasn't seen her since May of 2012.
I was wondering if this is considered abandonment, or if there is anything that I can do to either have him sign his rights over or anything along those lines.

ScottGem
Feb 8, 2014, 08:39 PM
No you will not be able to take away his rights for this.

Did you take him to court for child support? Was there support ordered by a court?

If you didn't take him to court then there is no abandonment. There is no law that forces a father to pay attention to his child. There are laws that require a father to pay support, but you have to take him to court to enforce that.

stinawords
Feb 8, 2014, 08:40 PM
There is a sticky at the top of this forum that addresses abandonment. Read that first. Next, there is another sticky also at the top addressing terminating rights. Read that second. Then, you need to have the support order enforced. To do this you petition the court to enforce the order. There are several ways that they can enforce it. The first is generally having the NCP in court on the court date to tell the judge why it is that they haven't been paying.

Fr_Chuck
Feb 9, 2014, 07:23 AM
I do agree, you may use this in court. To get a change in custody or to file for custody.

At this point you said he was not paying any child support?? So how much is the court order for. In general he does not owe any, till there is a child support order filed.

Is there a custody order ?

mommaof1monkey
Feb 10, 2014, 12:46 PM
He has been taken to court for child support. He is suppose to pay 200 dollars a month plus whatever he can to pay his back child support. This was ordered back in June.

ScottGem
Feb 10, 2014, 12:52 PM
This still doesn't constitute abandonment or allow you to terminate his rights. I assume the order was issued by a Kansas court. Kansas has a support enforcement agency:
Kansas Child Support Enforcement Customer Service Center Open for Business - Newsroom (http://www.dcf.ks.gov/Newsroom/Pages/archive2008/4-21-2008.aspx)

Have you contacted them to help collect the support?