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Hello all, I am new to this forum and hope someone can give me a littel guidance. My Wife and I just married after a 2 year courtship. I have two children from a previous marriage (7 daughter and a 3 year old son), and my wife has a 14 year old son. We love eachother very much and I want to adopt him. He wants this very much as well. His biological father has not been around in 13 years and was last seen when they lived in California. Do we need to involve him for a "TPR" or has he already forfieted that right due to the time of seperation? We do not want to include unless we have to due to his known volitility, and lack of want for the son to be around....basically we hope to save our son fromt he pain of having to know or possibly see the interactions. Any help that can be provided is greatly welcomed and appreciated.... Toushi
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In most states, significant lapses in contact (usually 6 months or more) without visitation or child support payments can be considered child abandonment and the absent parent's rights may be involuntarily terminated. But yes, the rights of the absent parent must still be terminated to complete the adoption. Contact an attorney in your area for details. The laws in every state are a little different. If you post on your local board for an attorney referral you can probably find someone who's affordable and competent. Good luck!
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If you cannot afford a lawyer, you can research the law in your state. On the petition in my state, there is a box to check stating that the father has had no contact with the child for over a year. Many county courts have websites giving information and forms for a step-parent adoption. If the father's whereabouts are unknown, many times service of the adoption petiiton will be published in a legal magazine for a specific amount of time to be considered good service.
Good luck!
Lynard1210
As a paralegal in the state of Ohio I can tell you that the law states that if the biological parent has had no contact with the child for a year (i.e. child support, phone calls, visitation, holiday gifts or cards) than that parent has abandoned the child and a signature on the parental consent form is not required. However, to meet service requirements, if you do not know his current whereabouts then the lawyer will post the notice in the newspaper of his last known area of residence for 6 weeks. He will then have 30 days to respond. If he fails to respond then the adoption will proceed. I wish you luck.