Questions???????????

The laws are still the same no matter what her age but she is old enough to be able to consent to the adoption or not. She will be asked if she wants to be adopted. I assume you will still have to track down the BF but only to notify him of what is going on. Sometimes a judge will allow you to post an add in the BF's local paper if you cannot find him. But, you usually have to show that you did try. He may or may not show up to court to argue but why would he bother? He has no legal ground to stand on. He cant say he didnt abandon her.

You do not need his consent because he abandoned his daughter. The judge will terminate his rights based on his absence for the last 15 years.

I've edited your post to remove the term 'donor' when discussing your childs biological father. We don't allow the use of offensive terms like that when talking about parents on this forum - bio parent, birth parent, natural parent - any of those is fine - but donor is not.Thanks :)

What jsimon said is completely correct. The only difference based on her age is that she will be personally involved in the process and able to give her own consent to her own adoption. You really need to make a true, earnest attempt to find the bdad and not use public notice as a way to get around having to deal with him. Any protest he makes now won't matter in the light of her whole life and his abandonment. But...a reminder. The adoption makes your husband her legal parent and revokes all legal rights and relationship between your daughter and your ex, but it does not erase the reality that he is her natural parent or erase him and his relatives from her life forever. Whether she wants a relationship with her biological grandparents and even with him, should be up to her to determine after she is an adult and any attempts you make to sabotage or prevent that will reflect poorly on you. I'm not saying you have done that or would do that. It may never be an issue. Neither one of them may ever want contact or relationship. But they might, at some future time. And you need to be prepared by understanding well in advance that the legal reality (which probably reflects the emotional and psychological reality as well, that her stepdad is truly her father, her daddy) does not erase the biological reality and that she, as her own person, once she is an adult has sole control of who is in and out of her life and that speaking negatively of her biodad is speaking negatively of half of her inherited genes and history. I'm the adoptive stepparent of my son, who was abandoned by his biomom when he was less than a yr old and she saw him 5 hrs total after she left. I am his mom, his mommy, his mother. But she has not vaporized or vanished. She is still his biological mother even though I am his legal, emotional and pyschological mother. We do not denigrate her as that would denigrate my son. My son is free to be in relationship with her if he chooses to be. People grow and mature. As someone who's been there I just want you to keep this in mind as you go through this. Advocate for your daughter but resist the urge to be adversarial or antagonist with the bdad if he surfaces. You chose him- and once you have a child together you can never unchoose him. Best wishes on a smooth, uncontentious adoption for your daughter.