Does he have rights?

Question

i jave been with my wife for 6 years and i have been with our 6 year old since he was 4 month old and our 8 year old came to live with us when he was 5 and we also have 3 kids together for a total of 5 well the biological father had sexually abused the 8 year old when he lived with him and hasnt seen or tryed to nake any contact with them since then no one knows where he lives or no one has seen hin so they say does he have any rights at all i am going to adopt them but until then does he have the right to see them if he surfaces or will he have any rights after the adoption

we had taken the 8 year old to child services and they interviewed him (the 8 year old) and they said the strongly believe that he had been sexually abused but he wont give them enough info to beable to press charges on him (the father) i do know he has a warrant for his arrest for something eles

Answer 1

I understand what your asking, I don't directly know the answer,(sorry) I do know that at least in my state of Oregon, When a child is born in wed lock the child in in the custody of both parents, or if they were not married if they signed a document putting his name on the child's birth certificate. Then they have the same rights, in order to get custody, one parent must file a custody suit. and it needs to be served to the other party, if for chance the other party cannot be found, or if he doesn't respond with in 30 days, judgement goes to the petioneer.
They are granted custidy. However if the parent does come back at a later date then he can file his own suit, but in order to win he must prove he is a fit parent.

If they weren't married or didn't sign any papers then she already has custidy.

Now I'm not sure if these laws apply to adoption, or getting his right revoked.

So I did a little searching and found a website you could look threw and possibly find your state, and their laws.

If I were in your situation I would 1st. get soul cousty of the children, then get his rights revoked, (which shouldn't be to hard to prove the other unfit If he's been gone so long that's abandinment I believe. plus with the crimminal background)
Then I would go ahead with the adoption.
Anyway I thought this website would be at least worth looking threw.

Oh and maybe call your local court house maybe they have some information.
Getting a lawyer too would be on the list.

Best of luck to you.

Answer 2

Unfortunatly, biological parents tend to hold more weight in custody issues, but that is not to say that would be the case here. We only know what you have reported in this forum and assuming that the child was sexually assaulted then a crime has been committed. If that is the case, then to protect the child, you should take the child to a doctor for an exam to certify, medically that some sort of abuse took place. The next step is to take the child to a psycologist to verify from that perspective that, not only in conjunction with the physical evidence the the boy has been emotionally harmed by these acts. During this process file criminal complaint against the father. If the DA decides to pursue the case, (enough proof, physical and emotional) then he will file criminal charges and issue a warrent.
In the meantime, retain an attorney to pursue legal custody. Depending on a variety of things, the family court could issue you temporary legal custody pending the arrest of the father, or they will hold in abeyance until he can be present in court. In either case, it will not look good for the father to intercept any adoption proceeding particularly if he has sexual assault charges pending against the same child.
You must be aware, that if he is found not guilty of sexual assault, then he may very well try to get his child back. Or, if the circumstances are not favorable for him to do that, the family court may terminate his parental rights. Make no mistake, even if he is found guilty of sexual assault of his child, that does not mean that he will lose his parental rights. You will have to file to have that issued heard in court after his conviction. If they do that, you would not have a problem with him, at least worring about him trying to get the child through the court system.
You have a long and challenging road ahead of you to adopt this child. I am not just talking about the legal proceedings, but the damage done to the boy should this turn out that he was, in fact, sexually assaulted.
You must understand, accusations are made by young children everyday in this country. Many of them are valid, but some are not. This is the reason I suggest a medical doctor to establish physical injury and a psycologist to assess emotional damage.
God bless and good luck

Answer 3

He must relinquish his rights unless a Judge has already done it. Until then he has the right to see the children. Were charges pressed against him for molesting the child. If so you my be able to keep him away from the children because of it. In the state of Texas. Until the father has signed papers relinquish his rights he can see the children. If things have not changed .

Answer 4

You can adopt the kid. It may take time, but it shouldn't be too hard. He won't have any rights after adoption, nor will you be able to get child support from him. You might have to prove abuse in order to prevent him from seeing kid before adoption.

Answer 5

no matter what he has done to the child the courts will give him his rights..i no its not fair or right but its the law.

Answer 6

that is up to a judge to decide. he can still try to fight it but I doubt he would win.