Adoption of stepdaughter

[svrandolph]

My wife and I have been married for 8 years. My stepdaughter was 2 year old when we got married in Californina. The biological father was someone my wife went out with on one occasion before we met. He has never been in the picture since then and know nothing about her. She is now 10 years old. I went to seek legal assistance for adoption through the military and was told that he has to be notified and provide written consent to the adoption. That's fine, but how do we go about doing that when my wife only had that one encounter with him and only has his first name to go by. They made it seem that the adoption process will not happen without his consent. Is this true or not?

[aaron]

It makes the adoption process more complicated, but it shouldn't prevent the process.