[kwick1978]

My daughters birth mom has not been around for 4 years now and has not complied with court ordered stipulations and I was wondering how I go abut getting her rights terminated so my wife can adopt her?
Thank you for the help

[stinawords]

First you get a lawyer (because they are necessary for all adoptions). Then you see if you can contact her mother and ask if she will voluntarily give up her rights to make way for the adoption. If she agrees then it is just a matter of paperwork, most of which your lawyer will do. If she dosen't then you battle it out in court. You can't just get her rights terminated with out going before a judge and even then if the mother appears to argue her side it won't always work.

[cdad]

Also how long have you been married ? In a lot of cases the courts don't favor it unless there is a track record of stability. So general rule of thumb is about 1 year being married to help clear the way.

[kwick1978]

I have been married for 5 years now.

[stinawords]

Being married that long is a great help. But as I said before you still need a lawyer so that would be your first step. Do you have a phone number and/or address of her mother?

[Fr_Chuck]

Ok, in general just for not visiting, or not paying child support they will not just take the rights away. But you will need an attorney to contact the mother and see if she will sign the rights away, beyond that it will be a hard court fight if the bio mother shows up in court to fight, of course if she will not show up or fight it is easier.

But in all cases you will need an attorney to get started.

[kwick1978]

I have a general idea where she is at but no phone number or address. I will get a hold of a lawyer and see what they have to say.