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Is there a form that me and my husband can fill out to start the process. My son's biological father jumps from coast to coast literally every few months to avoid child support and has never been in his life. He has only seen his twice..those days were back to back when he was four he is now 12 and does not pay child support. The only forms I found are those for people that are voluntarily giving up their rights. I am in the state of Texas. Please help.
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Hi we just completed a StepParent Adoption in Texas back in March. It was a long process for us and almost took 1 year. The best reliable place to get documents that the court will accept is through reliableadoption.com. It cost a few hundred dollars but was well worth it. It saved time on the computer and Law Library. They provided us with all of the CORRECT paperwork and provided any additional paperwork that the court asked for. I understand you may not be able to afford that but if not you should be able to find the document at the courthouse in the Law Library. You will need the involunatary termination of parental rights and adoption of a minor child paper. After you obtain these, along with your petition, you take them to the court house to be filed will cost between $200-400 depending on the county. You can call to find out the filing cost. Then, if the parent cannot be found you will want to submit a citation by publication, which you will submit an ad in THE PLACE WHERE THE CHILD RESIDES in the local paper. The ad runs one time and gives the parent 30 days to respond. If no response, adoption proceeds uncontested. In my county I had to have a homestudy as well as a Attorney Ad Litem for the missing parent (they will look for the missing parent through legal resources) and an Guardian Ad Litem for my child..but this can change due to county. The homestudy was 2 visits of $400 each, The Ad litem for missing parent was $750, and ad litem for child was $500. After the lawyer completes their search and either find him(which you would have to serve him papers saying you will be in court on such and such day for adoption he can sign away his rights or contest it). If he is not found the adoption proceeds uncontested. The ad litem for the child will just meet with your family to make sure all emotional relationships are established and that it is in the best interest. After all of this you will get a court date to Prove It Up and get your answer that day :) Both ad litems will have to be there on that court date and you will need your final order forms for the adoption as well. The judge will approve it and sign your papers. You will want at least 1 certified copy of final order for yourself, 1 to send to the state vital statistics, and if your child was born in a different state then 1 more for that state's vital statistics. Also, you will need a certificate of adoption can be found on the Texas vital statistics website and that will need to be completely filled out so when the adoption is final the district clerk will sign it and that gets submitted along with the final order to the vital statistics to obtain your child's new birth certificate
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