Step Father Adoption

I am completely new to all of this and looking for some advice.. My son is eight years old and has never met his biological father. He is not on the birth certificate and he has not tried to contact me to be involved either. My husband wants to adopt him and my son wants this as well but I'm not sure where to start. Do we need to have his biological fathers rights terminated? Or how does this process work because he is not on the birth certificate? My sons biological father is not a good person; physically and emotionally abusing, controlling and in/out of prison. I do not want him around my child due to all of this because I feel he is not a safe person for my son to be around. Is there anyway he could possibly get rights if he is able to be found? Thank you, Any advice helps!

It depends on your state, but it's highly unlikely that he could have parental rights now. If he's not on the birth certificate, he does not have rights. If he wanted to try and get them, he'd have to jump through a lot of hoops to even try for a DNA test. After that he'd have to pay a lot of money in court fees and even then would probably not be successful. Especially if he hasn't provided child support and your husband has been the father figure. I don't think you'll have a problem having your husband adopt your son.