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Farmer Lou · Nov 13, 2007, 09:16 PM

I live in Washington State and am seeking information on ending the parental rights of my son's biological Father. My son is 14 years old and has had no contact with his B.F. for 10 years. His Father is not required nor can be required to pay child support due to a type of Social security he is receiving. His B.F. has been diagnosed with Schizophrenia and has been in and out of institutions for most of his adult life. He is very unpredictable and at times a very real danger to himself and others. For this reason a protection order has been in effect for about 6 years. My question is: How do I get his parental rights relinquished? Can this be done without an adoption in waiting? If he voluntarily agrees can We do this without lawyers, and due to his mental status, would it ever hold? I don't know how to get started on this process, or if it is even a legal possibility.

Fr_Chuck · Nov 13, 2007, 09:33 PM

No you really can't do it without lawyers, since you will have to go to court and have a judge sign the orders. If he agrees, it will be easier, if he wants visits, most likely he could still get supervised visits. Due to his mental disorder, lawyers will almost be needed for sure, even if you had not before ( which you did) since he could easily claim that any agreement was not binding because of his mental health issues.

Hire an attorney if he will agree to sign over his rights.

macksmom · Nov 14, 2007, 05:56 AM

In most cases terminating his rights will not be granted unless you have someone willing to adopt the child in his place.
You have a lot to go on as far a terminatnig his rights, but again most judges are weary of doing this without another potential parent.
But I would set up some free consultations with attorneys to see what they think.

But it sounds to be like the bio father is not involved anyway... if you have no one to adopt the child, why not just leave things as they are? What are you trying to gain by having his rights terminated?
Personally, I think you would save money if you waited until there was someone to adopt the child and only have to pay attorney fees once rather than paying now and being told
"no" by the judge, then paying again later.

ScottGem · Nov 14, 2007, 08:36 AM

I have to disagree in THIS case. With an established case of mental illness and an protection order in place, I doubt if you would have much trouble getting a court to terminate his rights. You will need an attorney to petition the court and it will be the court's decision.

My question to you is; why bother? With the protection order in place you have effectively terminated his rights. So why do you need to do more?

Farmer Lou · Nov 14, 2007, 08:14 PM

Thank you for the advice, and as far as the question of why bother? Every year I have to go to court to get a new protection order because the only judge to due thesein my county insists on only granting me one for a years time. He wants to protect the B.F. parental rights, if he ever expresses any interest in parenting. With the B.F. in and out of hospitals, this last year being 2 states away, the whole process of me trying to figure out where he is and how to get him served is extremely difficult. And to go without the order is terrifying with his history. If he didn't have parental rights the judge could issue an order indefinitely.

ScottGem · Nov 15, 2007, 08:04 AM

Think about what you are saying. A judge will only grant you 1 year on the protection order to protect the bio father's rights. So you think that judge (who you say is the only one) is going to allow you to terminate his rights?

Green15 · Sep 23, 2010, 01:39 PM

I too have been trying to do the same thing, and have been told more than once by different lawyers, that in order to get MY son's "spermdonor"'s rights relinquished I would need someone who is ready to step into the father's shoes. This is very frustrating to me as I too am terrified for my child's well being at the mercy of this man. He has never seen my child as he was incarcerated during my first trimester of pregnancy. My child is two and the bio father resides in our hometown which makes me wery to go home even to visit. This posting is old so, Farmer Lou, if you have any information that would help my situation please feel free to share.