Adopting Teenage Daughter's Baby

It's so hard to go through the feelings and emotions you're going through, and I personally want to commend you for supporting your daughter, rather than wanting to "adopt the child away" and "solve all her problems". I encourage ALL women at least get an opportunity to parent, and then if it's too much, THEN consider adopting their child to a hopefully loving home. I know she's 16...but she was "old enough" to have sex and conceive a new life, so even though age says she's "only a child", please empower her to do what SHE feels is best for her baby. As for your motivation of wanting the birth father out of the picture...the only way you can have "legal rights" to say "butt out" to him is for you to adopt the child (or someone else to adopt the child) and have his rights terminated. He either has to sign away the rights himself, or ignore notices in the area he lives in that he has a child who is fixing to be terminated from having rights to that child. I know you may not want to hear this...but he may just be a "sperm donor" in your eyes right now (this is just an assumption)...but if he's young like she is...he may eventually wonder what happened to his child as well...unless he's hurtful to your daughter (other than abandoning her because of pregnancy)...then in the future...what harm would it be to at least allow a picture or two to him should he so desire? If you're concerned about health coverage...if you adopt...the child can go on your insurance. In my state, if you have young or poor mothers, you can get state Medicaid for the children of families in this situation that covers most everything. My children have medicaid regardless of our income because they were foster children...so I don't know if medicaid goes to children through private adoption or not. It may vary state to state. We do not have them on our health insurance because it causes huge issues on getting our insurance to pay then medicaid pay the balance, etc. It's a pain to have medicaid as secondary, for SURE. Most states require a DNA test to confirm the birth father is actually the birth father of the child...so be ready for this possibility. It's not meant to be an insult to the birth mother...but they have to know WHO the birth father is to have a legal termination of rights. This is all I have for now...I wish you the best of luck however it goes...please keep us posted, and congrats on the new baby!