[brandiginn]

I would like for my husband to adopt my daughter. Her father has not seen her for about a year and a half and has not paid child support for close to 4 years. He knew how to contact her up until about 3 months ago when I changed our # and we moved out of state about 3 weeks ago. I am afraid for him to come around. I ended what little contact he chose to have with our daughter when I found out he had been for witness intimedation in a case against him involving a shooting. The person shot would not press charges because he's some kind of gang leader and doesn't want to look like a punk and said he would take care of it his own way. All this was just the straw that broke the camels back for me and I am now avoiding him. I don't really know what legal rights he has and would like some info besides the obvious "talk to a lawyer" since I don't have $2,500 to do that right now. If anyone has any knowledge of Ohio or Indiana family law or knows of any low fee attorneys I would really appreciate it.

[ScottGem]

Not sure what you are expecting us to tell you. You need an attorney to file the adoption petititon and the termination of parental rights. You need one to function as a go between so the father doesn't know where you are.

From what you have told us, I don't think you will have a problem getting this done.

Shop around. I think $2500 is rather high for this. Also you may be able to find one who will allow you to pay over time.

[macksmom]

You can call around and get a free consultation with an attorney and see what steps you need to take.

Basically what you will need to do is file abandonment against the bio father and at the same time petition to have his rights terminated on those grounds and to allow your husband to adopt.

But again, you are going to need an attorney to do all these things, so I would start shopping around... set appts for free consultations and get the best rates.