Hello, My name is Sarah, I live in Texas. My daughters father has been absent majority of her life. He has maybe seen her no more than 20 times and she is almost 6 years old. I did file for child support but nothing was issued at the time due to him being incarcerated in another state. Paternity had been established but his name still remains off her birth certificate. Due to child support not being issued I have never received a payment from him. It has been since March 2010 since the last time he made his one visit and has never tried to make contact again. I did change my personal number due to harassment but my mothers number remains the same and that is the address that he knows and has never tried to make the effort to come around or be in her life in anyway. My daughter is just getting older and starting to ask certain questions and I would like to remove him from the whole situation. What can I do, if I can do anything at all? Please help..

He will still be her father whether you get him "charged with abandonment" (which, by the way, is this side of impossible) or not.

What do you hope to gain by charging him with abandonment? She will still be his daughter. If someone else wants to adopt her, he would still need to sign his permission.

File again for child support - unfortunately, having children with people who are felons leads to all sorts of problems, this being one of them.

If you want to change her name on the birth certificate you need to file an application with the Court. I would not attempt it without an Attorney - and you need the father's permission, so it's not going to happen.

What can you do? Find a husband and get your husband to adopt. Short of that, no you will not be able to "remove him from the whole situation".

Since he isn't exercising his rights now no court is going to remove them. I would suggest you prepare yourself to explain to your daughter the truth.

And yes you should refile for support.

You obviously did not understand my question and your answer is not helpful but thank you for your judgmental insight. And, maybe not answer questions that you can't relate to nor understand properly. Because, it is absolutely ridiculous to think by filing abandonment it will remove him from being her father. (there's a thing called DNA) But, what there is, is the opportunity to give your child a better life and to close any doors that could possibly hurt your child in the future.

First, let me quote from your initial post; "I would like to remove him from the whole situation" What are we supposed to read into that?

Second, please don't presume to suggest to people whether they should respond to your questions or not. As long as the response doesn't violate the rules, it is a valid response.

Abandonment is a very misunderstood aspect of family law. One doesn't file for abandonment, one may use abandonment as grounds for something. So what is it you actually want? Do you want full and sole custody? You apparently have that because he doesn't use his rights.

Remember, we can only judge by what you post. And we have to make judgments based on the little info you post.

"You obviously did not understand my question and your answer is not helpful but thank you for your judgmental insight. And, maybe not answer questions that you can't relate to nor understand properly. Because, it is absolutely ridiculous to think by filing abandonment it will remove him from being her father. (there's a thing called DNA) But, what there is, is the opportunity to give your child a better life and to close any doors that could possibly hurt your child in the future."

Fascinating - not according to the law, but fascinating just the same.

If you aren't trying to "remove him as her father," what is your purpose of "filing abandonment"? You think that's going to forever keep him from having visitation?

How's this for judgmental? Don't have sex with losers and you won't have these problems.