Update

You can try to locate him with one of the locaters, you pay them a little bit of money and they do an internet search. They are the same people that do process serving. I used it once.The don't usually pan out. That way your not just searching his last known town. Your searching the entire world. The judge will see this as you trying.

Thanks. I called the courthouse to make sure I could do the search on my own, and not pay the newspaper $75.00. They told me to go through peoplesearch, however I would need to at least have his age, because I would have to send the petition to every name that matched his. My paralegal also told me to go through the newspaper company, but I would rather save money. She also said that if any letters come back undeliverable, I would need to keep them unopened and give them to the judge if requested. She also said I would have to wait thirty days for a response. This is a long process, but I'm sure it is well worth it.

Yes it is well worth it. We started our process in April of 2005 but because of him fighting it and taking me to family court after he found out about the adoption it put everything on hold. Good luck to you and keep us informed

I was told to do a newspaper search rather than a internet search. The internet 9 times out of 10 will locate the name. However the newspaper is a lower risk. Meaning it depends on if you want him to really know or not, It may cost more money but save you the hassle of him trying to appeal and all that other stuff. I would look into everthing more carefully if I were you. That is probably why your paralegal told you to do the newspaper search. Sending a petition to every one who matches that name would more then likely notify him of the adoption. My adoption only took 10 months and we never found the father. Ask about the form you fill out saying you did a dillegent search.

I can not for the life of me find that form. I can however find the one that the judge signed to allow us to publish the hearing. Tha is order for publication of citation. Spending more money on this is worth not having any loop holes or contact wiht the bf, trust me.

Thanks! We started our adoption on Valentines 2006. Considering, it has not taken a long time. The wait time is now stemming from the adoption worker resending the consent papers. I actually called the childrens court, and they told me that I could use people search on the internet, however I would have to mail everyone on the list a copy. I was able to narrow the search down to his birthdate/age and the fact that he's a junior. It turns out that the other names were much older than him. I tried this and located the BF's second address in his last known state. I faxed the adoption worker the confirmation showing that I went through people search to locate him. The adoption worker will allow him thirty days to respond. If the consent doesn't come back within thirty days, then we will proceed from there. Once the consent does not come back, then we can type up the papers to terminate the parental rights, correct?. P.S. I really don't want him to know about the adoption. He had the nerve to call and leave a message to take her out over the weekend for her birthday, and he hasn't seen her in over a year. I don't know what his lifestyle is like now. It could be much worse. I know through the other mother that he is still harassing her and threatening to kidnap his other daughter like he did my daughter when she was a baby. What stopped him was the fact that I have sole custody now, and the other mother hasn't gone to get custody. Just explaining why I would rather him not know. He is very violent. He has an active address in two different states. But to my knowledge he doesn't live in either one. As long as the consent doesn't come back, we can proceed without the drama.

Have fun. I do not know what to say because our diligent search only involved searching for him through the phone companies and that was it. With us the social worker typed up the termination and adoption. I do not remember having my husband sign anything else. The social worker also obtained our court date, I was under the impression that all paper work was filed when you filed the petition. Hope all goes well.

Actually our worker wanted us to hold off with filing the petition for termination until after the search was conducted also. You can file more papers after the initial petition for the adoption is filed. We filed the petition to terminate his rights later on and then he died and the worker just ask for that petition to be dropped. Its just like family court, you can keeping petitioning and having other stuff put in your file until the actual court date.

I wondered where everyone went. Thanks for the info. I'm playing the waiting game right now, to see if the consent will come back undeliverable or not. I think I have a good address for him. I'm glad it is taking as long as other people have said it could take. Initially, when we filed the paperwork, we were told it could take as long as one year for the adoption. Again, I am very hopeful and know that I will be celebrating along with the rest of you. Thanks for all your encouragemetn and advice.

Good Luck to you! :)

Thank you so much!

Welll, The first attempt to send the consent to the BF came back undeliverable. I did a us search, found another address for him. He has until May 18th to contact the adoption worker or we proceed from their. Once May 18th passes and we don't hear from him, do we then request a court date to terminate parental rights?

After May 18th passes if you haven't already you will need to file a petition to terminate the parental rights it needs to be written a specific way so make sure you get with your social worker on how it will be written and what codes you need to use in it. Then a court date will be set where you will ask the judge for an order to place an add in the local paper as notification of the adoption proceedings. Make sure you take all of your documentation with you to verify how you have searched for him. I believe it has to be in the paper for 6 weeks, maybe longer verify this, so make sure you set your adoption court date for the time immediately following the end of the add. And if he does not show up to court the court then terminates his rights.It's alll pretty simple after the add is placed.

The second consent came back undeliverable. What state do I publish the notice in? The last known address state, or the state that I live in where he abandoned the child. My adoption worker has answers, but I no he has other clients, and I don't want to think about something later, and keep calling him. Just wanted to see what you went through. When I spoke to the paralegal we hired, before the second consent came back, she said she would type a letter and send it to the courts. This will be where I can ask for termination of parental rights. Once the add runs in the paper for four consecutive weeks, the adoption hearing can be set? Wow, it seemed like it would take so much longer.

It's actually a very quick process if you have all of your ducks in a row and you have already had the home visit and everything. Now since you have no idea where he is you have to make a request to be able to place an adoption announcement in the paper. And I believe the announcement can be in the county of his actual last known address. If it was the county your in, the last time you saw him then thats the county you place the add in. Make sure you take all of your documentation on your search to the courthouse with you. I never had to do this part so AJBs mom would be the best one to get all of the facts from on how to do this. I can only tell you what my book says.