Terminating Parental Rights for Non-Contact and Non-Support

My question involves child abuse or neglect in the State of: IL and TX

I currently live in Illinois and have court ordered child support through TX and applied while living in louisiana as well. My oldest sons bio father isn't in the picture and has paid a total of 1.5 months of child support in 3 years. The last time they saw each other my son was 4 months old. I would really like to get his rights terminated and have my fiance adopt him. I'm not sure if I can file here in IL or if I have to file in TX where I originally filed for child support. I am trying to do this without an attorney so any help is appreciated.

If you want to terminate your ex's rights in Illinois, you will need to do so through stepparent adoption.

Although Texas has a provision for terminating a parent's rights on the petition of the custodial parent, it's a discretionary measure and courts are very reluctant to order termination. If you are going to try that, I suggest discussing the situation in detail with a lawyer in Texas, to try to get a sense both of the cost and of the probability of success.

Given that trying to adopt a child jointly with a fiancé is going to be far more costly and cumbersome than stepparent adoption, and marriage suggests to the court that you have a stable family unit, it would really make a lot more sense for you to marry your fiancé, establish a stable marital relationship, and then proceed with stepparent adoption.