Do I Have to File Abandonment if the Dad is Not on the Birth Certificate

[tajnlibsmom]

My question involves adoption law for the State of: Texas
Same story. Dad and I dated. Daughter was born. He denied her. Then claimed her. He did not come to her birth and consequently is not on the birth certificate. There was to be a custody/support hearing and he never showed. He has not seen her since February of 2010 and has not even attempted to call since August of 2010. Now I am settled and my fiancee and I are trying to get our family together as it should be. (Wouldnt it be awesome if he could sign adoption papers at the wedding?) So my questions are: Do I even have to try to fight this with him since he is not on the BC and there is no legal id of him as the father? ANd if I still have too what are my chances? And what do I need to do?

[Dogmatique]

There IS, since you live in Texas, another option that does not involve adoption. Texas will sometimes allow one parent to voluntarily terminate their parental rights provided a) the other parent consents and b) (this is oversimplifying it but you'll get the gist) you can indicate that you will not need the State's help to support the child.

It'd be worth having a chat with a local attorney to go over your options in greater detail. And something many posters like to ask people with regards to a stepparent adoption is:

Mom, if your new husband adopts and you then get divorced will you be okay with him having full custody and you paying child support?

New Dad, if you divorce Mom are you going to be okay with financially supporting a child who is not biologically your own?

[tajnlibsmom]

I apologize. That is one major thing I forgot to mention. I have no idea where he is. I cannot find him or any of his family.

[Dogmatique]

Would he be agreeable to that? It would, after all, leave him completely off the hook in terms of child support hence it might be worth hiring a PI to track him down.

Other than that, get married and stay married for awhile (the court wants to see stability). Then go and speak with a local adoption attorney; in Texas Dad still needs to be notified, but you can serve him notice via publication if you genuinely can't find him and have made a genuine effort to locate him. That is best done with the aid of an attorney though.

All in all the bottom line is no matter how you want to go about it, you're going to want to speak with a local adoption attorney who is familiar with dealing with absentee parents.

[tajnlibsmom]

Since there is no dad on the bc can my husband sign the acceptance of paternity paper and be added to the bc?

[Dogmatique]

No, that would be paternity fraud.