Husband would like to adopt my son

[lisant]

Hello,
My son is 11 years old and has not had contact with his bio dad since Dec. of 2000 (no support, no contact of any kind). He moved out of the city and never gave me a contact number. Last I heard he may be in LA. I may have his mother's address somewhere, but she hasn't had contact with my son since 2000 either.

I married a wonderful man, who is the best dad ever to my son. He wants (and I agree) to adopt our son. My son is eager for this to happen too.

I am wondering how I would go about accomplishing this. Do I need to terminate rights first and then proceed with the adoption. Also, how do I serve/cite the bio dad, when I have no idea where he is? Does this seem fairly straight foward and something we could do on our own? Of should we get an attorney? I do have a JD, although I NEVER took the bar. Became a teacher instead. Anyway, I feel like I could muddle through all the paperwork, but I am also pregnant and a mother of a toddler...so I could do without any stress (thus the attorney sounds appealing). My husband said that he would handle it...but I KNOW that because of my legal schooling, I would still be hovering over all the paperwork to make sure it is done correctly.

Anyway, I am rambling. Just trying to figure out the easiest way to go about this and hoping it is a slam dunk (due to abandonment in CA). Thank you.

[lisant]

By the way, my husband and I have been married since Dec. of 2001.

[aaron]

You can ordinarily proceed with the termination proceedings and step-parent adoption within a single proceeding.

The easiest path is to get the biological father's consent. If that isn't possible, and you can't find him to serve him, you'll have to proceed on the basis of substituted service (as ordered by the court). You can review California law on the termination of parental rights in adoption proceedings here.

Basic step-parent adoption forms are available here.