I have been awarded permanent custoday of 2 small children ages now are 3 and 5. I have had custody since January 2013 the parents have been in contact but have not given any support for the children. I do however receive support from DFCS. How long without contact from parents does it take to declare abandonment?

The parents haven't abandoned the children. You have custody. What state are you in (if in the U.S. or country if not)? What are you trying to accomplish by charging the parents with abandonment?

Generally, abandonment is a criminal charge like leaving a child at a bus stop or mall. Abandonment is also sometimes used as grounds to get custody. But since you already have custody we need to know what you are wanting to accomplish in order to help.

What do you think declaring abandonment would do for you? Do you want to adopt the children? Do you want to prevent the parents from visiting, what?

What you should do is discuss the situation with your DCFS caseworker.

Was this custody court ordered or were the children simply left with you on behalf of dcfs ?

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Originally Posted by stinawords

The parents haven't abandoned the children. You have custody. What state are you in (if in the U.S. or country if not)? What are you trying to accomplish by charging the parents with abandonment?

Generally, abandonment is a criminal charge like leaving a child at a bus stop or mall. Abandonment is also sometimes used as grounds to get custody. But since you already have custody we need to know what you are wanting to accomplish in order to help.

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I am in the state of Georgia and my gole is to adopt the children. At this time each child has a different last name same mother but different fathers. According to DFCS there was only 2 months before parents rights were suspended by state law due to being unfit parents.
I simply wish to give both children a stable life without having to worry about any confushion for the children

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Originally Posted by ScottGem

What do you think declaring abandonment would do for you? Do you want to adopt the children? Do you want to prevent the parents from visiting, what?

What you should do is discuss the situation with your DCFS caseworker.

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Yes I wish to adopt and make the children my airs. The courts have given me permanent custody. At this time there is not a case worker. I was advised by DFCS when I was awarded custody to adopt as soon as possible.
The attorney tells me I need to declair aboudment. But gave me no details as to how.

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Originally Posted by cdad

Was this custody court ordered or were the children simply left with you on behalf of dcfs ?

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Yes the custody was a court order on Janury 8, 2013

First, its DECLARE ABANDONMENT and HEIRS. You need to have proper spelling in court documents.

Second, I cannot believe that there is no caseworker assigned to your case. The case may have been switched to different people, but someone should be overseeing it. So I would go back to DCFS.

And again, you don't declare abandonment. You file a petition for adoption in your local Family Court. I would not try this without an attorney to prepare the paperwork for you. But I would guess the attorney files the adoption petition, cites the DCFS case where you were awarded permanent custody because of unfit parents and request that you be allowed to adopt.

Get a different attorney. One that well practiced in adoption. The paperwork is very specific and I would never ever recommend trying an adoption with out an attorney. Then you (through your attorney) petition the court to formally adopt the children. You can spend the next few days talking to different local law offices to find out the rates each charge if that is a concern.