[dmn2008]

I have a 21 month old daughter with my soon-to-be ex husband. He has not seen nor had any contact with her for 16 months. I have a protection from abuse order on him, but he has been allowed supervised visits since she was born, just never taken advantage of that. We live in Maine. My current boyfriend has been there for my daughter since she was a month old and she thinks of him as daddy. He wants to legally adopt her. My ex has 3 other children as well that he barely sees and does not support. DHHS opened a case for my daughter when she was born because her father had just been arrested for drugs and burglary, and he was very abusive. He never cooperated with them. They closed the case on me as soon as I put the PFA on him because there was no danger from me and I cooperated fully. He also had a case opened on him and his mother about 2 of his other children. We are now in the process of getting divorced and he wants shared rights and visitations. My daughter does not know him at all and I know that she is in danger with him because of drug use and lack of supervision. What I really want is for him to go away and not have anything to do with us, as he has been doing for her entire life up until now. Is there something I can do? File for abandonment or somehow have his rights relinquished?

[ScottGem]

Abandonment doesn't apply a you are unlikely to get his rights terminated at this point. Are you asking for child support as part of the divorce?

You should be trying for no visitation or supervised visitation at the least. And definitely go for support whether you think he will ever pay or not.

When you marry your fiancée you can then apply for him to adopt. You can offer to drop support if your ex agrees to the adoption.