I will tell you my situation and you tell me if you see any roadbumbs. I want to adopt my step-daughter and my wife agrees. We live in California and I am in the marines. The natural father is incarcerated and is in Texas (where we were before I was stationed here). His rights of seeing her switched to his parents when he went to prison (btw his crime was raping his 12 year old neice) We don't think he will sign her over willingly. Before I do this I just want to know if the adoption and termination of rights will go without problems.
2007-07-13 06:19:15 · 7 answers · asked by just a guy in this world 1 in Pregnancy & Parenting ➔ Adoption
Ok well I realize that there might always be problems, but I just want to know what major ones should I expect or should this go smoothly.
2007-07-13 06:20:38 · update #1
my son's birthfather (never met him) contested the adoption but he was in prison so the judge denied his right to contest. I had no trouble adopting him.
2007-07-13 06:27:20 · answer #1 · answered by wendy_da_goodlil_witch 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
My husband is also looking to adopt my daughter. (Her natural father has had no contact with my daughter and has shown no interest in doing so.....hopefully it will go quite easily!)
Your best bet would be to have some papers drawn up about the termination of parenal rights and have a lawyer/paralegal go in and see if he will sign them. At least then, you know where y'all stand. Also, you need to find out what rights the grandparents have and find out what y'all need to do so that the grandparents "rights" are not trampled upon. The last thing you need are some angry grandparents in court as well. You, or your wife, might want to feel them out about this situation prior to any action so that way they do not feel threatened or get a different story from their son.
If he is not willing to sign over his rights, your only option is to take him to court and petition the court to terminate his right so that you can adopt her. I seriously doubt that the reason that he is incacerated can be withheld for the judge and will be a key factor in the judge's decision. Just be prepared for all the "visits" that social services will be making to your house (not much fun, but that is the law).
This may not be a "slam dunk", but stick through it and the rewards will outweigh any of the rough patches.
Good luck!
2007-07-13 13:49:50 · answer #2 · answered by Mum to 3 cute kids 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
As far as what legal right you would have that you do not have now...well (heaven forbid) anything happened to your husband, the little girl would live with whoever is designated as her mother which means it would not be you. How good of a relationship does your husband have with the child's mother? Could he approach her and suggest that she terminate her rights which would allow you to adopt her? If he could and she did it willingly things would be a whole lot easier. You could assure her that her relationship with her daughter would remain as it is; call when she wants and that you would not push her to the curb. Basically, you would have an open adoption. You could send pictures and updates periodically and she could also see her when it was convenient for all of you. If she is not willing to consider this option, you may have to get dirty and prove she has either abandoned the child or an unfit mother. This could have negative effects on the child herself. She will know that there is something wrong with her bio mother. Children tend to see themselves as an extension of their parents. If she feels her mother is bad, she may shift some of those negative feelings towards herself as well, which I am sure you don't want. It's a tough decision to consider but I think you should move forward with adopting her as an insurance policy just in case something happened to the father.
2016-05-17 04:04:21 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
If his rights were given to his parents I would expect that as long as they could get visitation of the daughter then they will probably sign.That is if they have any relationship with child as is. My cousin adopted his step daughter and had a similar situation and as long as he agreed to some visitation, then things were okay. He said he would as long as the child wanted up to 18.
2007-07-13 11:16:57 · answer #4 · answered by Done 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
In most states, if the biological is found guilty of a crime against a chlid, that automatically allows for their parental rights to be terminated weather they agree or not. No judge in their right mind is going to allow a convicted child rapist any access to a child weather it is his or not. You can always look up on the net the laws and statues in your state. Most states have them listed.
2007-07-16 08:21:30 · answer #5 · answered by Angela F 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well, probably, since the father is not a nice person, he could give you a hard time, but legally, once he went to prison he lost all his rights so, you won´t have big problems there.
The law is on your side here, so you will not have major obstacles.
Your are doing a very good thing, your wife and her daughter are lucky to have you. Good for you!!
2007-07-13 06:36:22 · answer #6 · answered by Sunshine 4 · 1⤊ 1⤋
any judge in their right mind will relingquish the bio-fathers rights. Is all you're wife has to do is file for full custody proving the bio-father to be unfit. And sense their is the fear of him possibly rapping his own daughter given the chance and sense he's in prison for doing it to his niece I don't see any major speed bumps in your guys way. Good luck. Make sure you keep documents of everything. From what the bio-father says to his parents to their atterney ect. every phone call, conversation, everything needs to be documented that way if and when you do run into a speed bump those documents may help you out.
2007-07-13 06:26:52 · answer #7 · answered by Lena 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋