I have a five year old daughter. Her father has not been in the picture for the last four years. I have full and legal custody of her. My fiancée want to adopt her and he want to become her father. He been a father to her more than her own father. Right now I am residing in West Virginia but she was born in California. How can he adopt her and Do I have to do it in California or can I do it in West Virgin? And all I have for her birth father is a phone number I have no idea where he is located in the United States.

Does her biological father pay child support?
If he does, in the courts eyes that is involvement, regardless if he sees the child or not. You will have to have his rights either terminated for being absent (but if he is paying child support, the court won't consider him "absent"), or if he is willing you can have him sign over his rights. Now, in Ohio you have to be married a year before they will allow your husband to adopt the child. You would need to check the laws in your state.

I live in TN so this could be different, my Dad remarried a woman that had two children from her previous marriage, their father was no where to be found, so when my dad was ready to adopt them they first hired a lawyer, the lawyer tried contacting the father, which of course did not work. Then there was a posting in our local newspaper and there "father" had so long to respond to it. After the specific time lapsed my dad was legally allowed to adopted my sister and brother. Okay now their "biological" father never paid child support or anything, so if your ex is found, get him for back child support, then let him know if he lets your husband adopt the little girl he will no longer have to pay anything, it makes to sick how many people actually choose the money over the babies...

Micehelle has given good advice. You need to hire an attorney to petition the court for adoption. The first part of that is to get the bio father to relinquish his rights. A good faith attempt has to be made to contact him and get his signature. If such an effort does not contact him, the adoption can usually proceed.

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Originally Posted by macksmom

Does her biological father pay child support?
If he does, in the courts eyes that is involvement, regardless if he sees the child or not. You will have to have his rights either terminated for being absent (but if he is paying child support, the court won't consider him "absent"), or if he is willing you can have him sign over his rights. Now, in Ohio you have to be married a year before they will allow your husband to adopt the child. You would need to check the laws in your state.

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Yes. I have a court ordered child support for him to pay. He has not paid child support in the last 3.5 yrs. He owes back pay. So if he owes back pay in child support can he get his rights taken away that way or do I have to contact him. All I got is a phone number, no legal address?

Parental rights and responsibility are two different things. Generally parental rights cannot be TAKEN away except in cases of total abandonment or where there is a danger to the child. So you have to contact him and ask him to sign over his rights.

The good news is that, since he seems reluctant to pay support and since your husband adopting the child will relieve him of that responsibility, he should be pretty willing to sign.

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Originally Posted by ScottGem

Parental rights and responsibility are two different things. Generally parental rights cannot be TAKEN away except in cases of total abandonment or where there is a danger to the child. So you have to contact him and ask him to sign over his rights.

The good news is that, since he seems reluctant to pay support and since your husband adopting the child will relieve him of that responsibility, he should be pretty willing to sign.

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Do I have to do that in the state my daughter was born in or can I do it in the state where I live at now?

The adoption petition is filed where you live now.

Make a good faith attempt to contact the father and gather evidence to present to the court verifying that you've done so. You may want to wait until you're actually married before filing the motion with the court. If the father cannot be located, despite your best efforts, then the adoption can proceed without his consent. If you are able to contact him then he will have to sign his consent.

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Originally Posted by Destiny2007

Yes. I have a court ordered child support for him to pay. He has not paid child support in the last 3.5 yrs. He owes back pay. So if he owes back pay in child support can he get his rights taken away that way or do I have to contact him. All I got is a phone number, no legal address?

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His rights won't be taken away merely for non-payment. If you can locate him, he'll have to sign his consent in order for the adoption to proceed. If the adoption proceeds, he'll still be responsible for the back child support pro-rated to the date the adoption becomes finalized ; he'll just no longer be responsible for any future child support.