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den22jaxn · Jan 12, 2009, 12:40 PM

How can my husband adopt my daughter? She does not have a father listed on her birth certificate. Her biological father has never been in her life and has never paid child support. Do I need to contact him to do the adoption?

ScottGem · Jan 12, 2009, 12:49 PM

Yes. An adoption has to be ratified by a Family Court. The court will want to make sure the bio father agrees to the adoption.

You will need an attorney to prepare the adioption petition. The attorney will advise you on how to deal with getting the bio father's rights terminated.

div2wice · Jan 16, 2009, 07:43 PM

Your first thing would be to check with your local county courthouse to find out more about this type of adoption in your state. My sister didn't know where her child's father was when she wanted to have her hubby adopt him. She went with the same online company I used when adopting my boys and they were able to tell her all about the laws and requirements in her state and also helped her with the Missing Biological Parent paperwork to take to court for filing. Each state is different so I would contact them or the local courthouse for all the info you can gather. Some states will allow the adoption if the parent has been out of the child's life for a certain amount of time.

Fr_Chuck · Jan 16, 2009, 09:31 PM

Adoption is very seroiuis and not easy to do unless the father is willing to sign over his rights,

The father, is there a custody order and/or a child support order.
** if you never went to court to get child support why are you surprised he has not paid.

But if there is a custody order, then he will just have to sign his rights away, if there is not, you will have to have him take a DNA test, then he can sign his rights away for an adoption.

If you don't know where he is ( but you can't lie) then it gets even harder, since there is specific rules for how you have to search, and how you have to notify, such as legal posting.

div2wice · Jan 16, 2009, 10:14 PM

I'm just speaking from experience. When I adopted my twin boys, I used an online service. It allowed me to open up options that I didn't believe would ever be opened to me. My sister was in the same situation. Her child's father was supposed to pay child support, but he never did and never been a father to his child. She lost contact for about 4 years and then decided to have her new hubby adopt him. This is when she did the Missing Biological Parent Adoption. Believe me, I was skeptical at first because yes, Adoption is a HUGE process. Please know, there are other options aside from hiring a lawyer. As I said earlier, check with your local county courthouse first. They can help you with your rights and what you can and can't do in this situation. At least they did in my state. Do your research and best of luck!

Fr_Chuck · Jan 16, 2009, 10:44 PM

Originally Posted by div2wice

I'm just speaking from experience. When I adopted my twin boys, I used an online service. It allowed me to open up options that I didn't believe would ever be opened to me. My sister was in the same situation. Her child's father was supposed to pay child support, but he never did and never been a father to his child. She lost contact for about 4 years and then decided to have her new hubby adopt him. This is when she did the Missing Biological Parent Adoption. Believe me, I was skeptical at first because yes, Adoption is a HUGE process. Please know, there are other options aside from hiring a lawyer. As I said earlier, check with your local county courthouse first. They can help you with your rights and what you can and can't do in this situation. At least they did in my state. Do your research and best of luck!

While this is a loving and great story, it appears to have little to do with this case, 1. we don't know that they father is missing, just not vistiing and paying. 1. and a father will have to sign off on rights if known and present.