Hi my sons dad keeps dropping him off for weeks at a time and no-one has custody. He doesn't call or make any effort to get ahold of us until its convieient for him. I would like some info about child abandonment laws and how to go about filing custody asap. Thank you.

If he is making an effort to see him it is not abandonment, maybe neglect.
You go to family court and file for custody then they will have a hearing.

Well he's had him for a while and I heard its abandonment after 72 hours.

Welcome to AMHD. Is there a custody order in place? What state?

I still don't think you can get him for abandonment under the circumstances.
You can file for full custody.

No custody order. I live in WA state.

If he is on the birth certificate, then both of you have custody, until the court decides. If he is not on the birth certificate, then the mother has custody until the court decides.

So stop doing nothing and get a real custody order in place, real child support order

Yea well he's not on the birth certificate and I'm paying his welfare back to the state

Go for full custody
You can go for child support too but then a paternity test would have to be done and he could try to get visitation rights,

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Originally Posted by N0help4u

Go for full custody
You can go for child support too but then a paternity test would have to be done and he could try to get visitation rights,

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Thank you very much 4 your help.

Here is some general info: Child Custody in Washington State

First, abandonment refers to leaving a child UNATTENDED. Dropping him off with another parent is not abandonment.

Second, I'm not clear what you want here. Do you want to get full custody without visitation rights for the father? Why didn't you apply for a custody arrangement when he was born?

But if he's not on the birth certificate, then you already have full custody in the eyes of the law. You can refuse visitation or any contact. If he wants visitation or partial custody, he will have to go to court to establish paternity and petition for custody/visitation.

So you really don't need to do anything.