Partner want to adopt my child?

Question

I'm in Australia. I have a 4 yr old son whom I have full custody of. I left his father when I was 4 months pregnant due to family violence. I wanted to give my baby the best I could provide. I ended up in court with the end result being that I am sole custodian to my son. His biological father gets no access (he's only ever met him once in 2004) he does not pay me any child support. I have been in a relationship with my new partner now for a few years. We have had another child together and he has raised my son since he was less than a year old. My son has always called him Daddy. We would love for my partner to adopt my son. Has anyone in Australia been through this process? What do we have to do and would we have to track down my ex and get him involed? I would prefer not to have to find and contact him as it would be putting myself in extreme danger. Any help would be great please!

Answer 1

OK I am in Queensland over hear you need to be together for at lest 2 years and i think that if your son's father is on the birth certificat then you need him to sign the forms go to your local child protection services as they are the ones that mostly run Adoption in this country.

if you don't know where he is then you will need to find the birth dad most often you can do this on the voting roles (that is how i found my birth mun)

if child support have his address then you can ask them to send a letter to him also and also Centrelink well do this also BUT do not seal the envelope when you use them for this as they will have to read it so that they know it is not a threatening letter or something. I don't know as much with child support but with Centrelink i know that the area manager reads it and so does the Freedom of Information officer then they will phone him and say "we have a letter from and your name " and they ask do you wont the letter and then if he Say's yes then he will get the letter if he Say's no then it goes into the bin and you will never know what way it when unless he contacts you back. also with centerlink you need as much information about him as you can as then they can find him easer too like DOB and full name will help

i think that is the best i can do as to helping you with it also look in the white pages too they are all ways to prove that you have tried to find him at lest and then if he does not contact you back you can try and find him as you will need to go to court and have his right terminated.

Good Luck

Answer 2

Well, I have absolutely no idea how they would handle it in Australia, but in Texas they do have remedies for this situation.  They might have similar ways of handling it in Australia as well.

My son's father was absent as well and when my son was 7 my current husband adopted him.  In order to give proper notice to my ex, I had to place ads in the paper for a period of time which constituted the legal notice that was required.  

Check with your court system to see if this is how they may handle it.