Stepparent adoption with no legal father

this varies from state to state. you need to find an attorney versed in family law in your state. Please note, at least in my state, just because a father is not listed on a birth certificate doesn't mean you don't need to terminate their rights

I know that, but what I meant was...he never showed up for his dna test, me and my daughter showed up and did the test but he never cooperated, so paternity was never established. If my significant other wants to adopt her once we're married, how do they go about getting consent from him? Will they try to contact him to establish paternity and still allow him to give/deny consent? He's never acknowledged her existence or cared about her, but I know he would not give consent for my significant other to adopt her. Because he's just a stubborn, mean person and he'd do it just to feel like he had control over me and the ability to try and ruin something great for me and my child.

My sister lives in California and she had the rights of her child's father terminated against his will so that her new husband could adopt. He refused to sign consent, but he also refused to take on any of the responsibility of being a father (visitation, child support, etc.). She had to serve him with paperwork notifying him of a pending adoption and he had the opportunity to show up in court to contest it. He didn't show, but her attorney told her that even had he shown, he would have had little chance of winning because he had no contact and paid no child support for over one year and that is considered abandoment and grounds for termination of parental rights. Had she not been able to locate him to serve him with paperwork, she would have had to send the paperwork (certified) to his last known address and post a classified ad in the paper to try to locate him. If I remember correctly, my sister and her new husband had to be married a year before they could start the process. In her case, the child's father was her ex-husband and was on the birth certificate. I don't know if you would even have to notify your child's father since he has not been established as the legal father, but worse case, I think you would just have to notify him and give him a chance to show up in court to protest it (it doesn't sound like he would show). If he did show, I think you would have a very good case to terminate anyway due to abandonment. I would suggest you speak to a family law attorney in your area to learn the specifics for your case, but based on what you've posted here, I don't think the father would have much chance of preventing an adoption. And if he was successful in preventing the adoption, he would likely end up with a child support order against him, so he has a big incentive not to even try.