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crystalgriffin · May 27, 2009, 11:29 AM

I have a 9 year daughter that has not seen nor had any contact with her biological father in over 3 years. He is also $16,699.00 behind in child support. There were 4 payments mad at the beginning of 2008 but once the state found him he quit his job. The state is unable to find him and they don't seem to be putting much effort into doing so. I would like for his rights to be terminated due to the fact I was given restrictions on where I can live. He does not have any over night visitation, just on Wednesday and Saturday. We have no way of contacting him or his family and I need to know what to do in order to start this process. It has been over a year for any type of child support payment and like I said before, we have had NO contact with him in over 3 years. What do I need to do?

this8384 · May 27, 2009, 11:40 AM

Abandonment is not an issue here; abandonment would be if he left your child unattended.

You cannot force the father to relinquish his rights, not to mention that it's a very uncommon process. Here's a link to a sticky on this forum, because it's such a commonly asked question:
https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/family...st-116098.html

Have you called child support and asked why they haven't intercepted his tax refund? If he's truly that far behind, they should be pursuing him much more aggressively - and if they're not, you need to find out why.

crystalgriffin · May 28, 2009, 07:43 AM

Thank you for your response.

I have spoke with the Attorney General's office on multiple occasions and I never get anywhere. They told me last October that they are trying to locate him to serve him papers on going back to court to get what is owed to me, but since they do not have a "valid" address for him (only because it hasn't been updated in 3 years) they can not serve the papers. They say they are looking for him in the system but nothing ever comes up. I'm guessing he is working for his brother who has his own lawn business and he is paying him cash. If that is the case, then he wouldn't file his taxes. I don't have any information on him besides his social. No phone number, no address, no employment information, nothing. If something was to happen to my daughter, I wouldn't even be able to tell him. The AG's office doesn't seem to be too interested in finding him and until they do, they can't do anything, or at least that is what they are telling me.

I thought if you ran and ad in the paper in the cities he may be living in, and you don't get a response, you could have their rights terminated. I know there is more to this but this is all I really know. Is this not true?

this8384 · May 28, 2009, 08:01 AM

Originally Posted by crystalgriffin

I thought if you ran and ad in the paper in the cities he may be living in, and you don't get a response, you could have their rights terminated. I know there is more to this but this is all I really know. Is this not true?

Definitely not. Like I said before, termination of parental rights is very rare. And when it is allowed, it is usually only when another party is willing to adopt the child(ren). So if you marry another man and he is willing to adopt your child, then TPR is a possibility.