Adoption question......?

Question

I live in the state of florida. Does anyone know how my husband can adopt my daughter. Her father has nothing to do with her doesn't call or visit. He only pays child support when the state desides they are about to throw him in jail. His name isn't on her birth cert. Any help would be appreciated

Answer 1

The only way your current husband can adopt is if her bio dad signs away his rights.  If he hasn't been calling or visiting, I'd think he'd do this, simply because he wouldn't have to pay child support any more.

Answer 2

Your husband is probably very important to your daughter, and can raise her, but he is not her biological father. A step-father is still a father. She doesn't need a piece of paper to love him. She has the right to keep her history intact. Maybe someday she will want a relationship with her biological father and/or his family, maybe she won't. Don't deny her the chance to know all about her biological roots.

Answer 3

I did it in MI. You most likely will need to hire a family lawyer.  I didn't need to, but I did.  They file some paper work and serve him to appear in court.  He can either decide to sign off his rights, or the judge can terminate them.  My son's "father" signed off any potential rights he had as a potential father as there had been no DNA test and he refused to acknowledge a thing in case it cost him money!!  30 days after that we went back to court and signed the papers to finish the adoption and it is a done deal!!

I was told that if I didn't know where to reach my ex, or who he was, then you put an ad in the paper of his last known location.  If there is no response, the judge terminates rights.  In MI the law is 2 years with no contact or money, you basically have no rights.  Not paying child support on time will not do him any good!  I understand why you want your husband to adopt her, it is not to take her history away, but to keep her in the family she knows and loves if anything should happen to you!  I was terrified that something would happen to me and my son would have to go live with people he never knew and would be kept away from the only family he had known!!

Answer 4

My best friend is going thru the same thing right now.  She is in the process of adopting her stepson.  She got an attorney, filed the paperwork, and she has court in a little over a month,  Her stepsons mother also said that she would not sign over rights to her son, but when the ppwk was filed and she did not answer in 30 days (I am in Alabama, it may be different in your state) she lost custody by default.  Also, the biological mother had not seen the child in over a year, and that was also called abandonment, so even if she would have fought, she might have lost anyway.  Also, the same family, my friends husband is adopting my friends oldest daughter.  You never know, your childs father may sign over rights, tell him that will relieve him of any child support payments, insurance, whatever.  He may surprise you.  Try it.  Talk to an attorney and see what needs to be done and what the laws for stuff like that are in your state