Ok my girlfriend has a 18 mo old baby and his biological dad has seen him once... he is on none of his paperwork such as birth certificate, nothing. He will call one day and say I want to see my son, then the same afternoon he will call and say he hates the baby and hopes to never see him. He doesn't pay child support. Doesn't pay for anything. I know that we have to get married before I can adopt him. But since he is not on any of birth certificates or anything will he still have to sign over his rights?

Yes he still has to sign away his rights, he can request a dna test to prove paternity since his name is not on the birth certificate. He can then use that to get partial custody if in the future he choses to do so.

She should take him to court to prove paternity, then he will be required to pay support. He may even ask to be recognized as the father on the birth certificate. This is his right. And will save a lot of questions in the future when this child becomes an adult and wishes to know his/her identity. Truthfulness to our children is the healthiest way... makes us better people.

I understand your predicament and am in the same struggle myself. I have a five year old and his father has only seen him a few times. He has called maybe five times since my son's birth and we have let the answering machine get it, but he never perseveres. You think a loving father would. My son's paternal grandmother is ADAMANT about maintaining contact. For family continuity as my husband (the only father my son has had) who has been in his life since he was 9 months would like to adopt him and legal/financial issues I am in the process of having his rights terminated. It can be an ugly ordeal but the first place to start is at the probate court. The first thing they told me to do was to send a form to my son's father and see if he would just terminate his rights voluntarily. The next step was to fill out a massive amount of paperwork to try to prove that it is in the best interests of my son to have his father's rights terminated. Then if he contests there will be a court battle. I have decided that the worst thing that will happen in my case is his worthless father will be forced to finally take responsibility for his son.

Hope this helps.