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Adoption of Child by Unmarried Person

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  • 08-14-2019, 09:45 PM
    blady
    Adoption of Child by Unmarried Person
    My question involves adoption law for the State of: Indiana

    I am asking this for my granddaughter. She gave birth to son when she was 15 years old. The child is now 12 years old. Up until about 3 years ago the biological father had visitation. During one visitation CPS got involved as father had a drug problem. He was in and out of jail for the last 3 years and behind on child support. He has now become current on child support and has filed to have visitation re-established as mother has not let him or his family see or speak to the child for 3 years.

    She has been living with a man for the last 3 years and he has become like a surrogate father to the child. They are not married. She does not want the biological father or his family to have visitation. She tries to make the argument that the child is in sports and can not be away for visitation. There is a court date scheduled in 2 weeks on father's motion to re-establish visitation.

    So now she has decided that she wants her boyfriend to adopt the child. My question is in the State of Indiana can an unmarried man sue for adoption of a non-biological child? Even if the biological father wants to be in the child's life? I don't personally think that what she is doing is right but I am wondering if a court would grant such a request?

    If you ask the child, out of ear shot of his mother, he says he would like to see his father again. But his mother gets so upset that he is afraid of making her mad.

    Thank you.
  • 08-14-2019, 10:30 PM
    Mercy&Grace
    Re: Adoption of Child by Unmarried Person
    No judge will allow that.
  • 08-14-2019, 10:34 PM
    Taxing Matters
    Re: Adoption of Child by Unmarried Person
    Quote:

    Quoting blady
    View Post
    My question is in the State of Indiana can an unmarried man sue for adoption of a non-biological child? Even if the biological father wants to be in the child's life?

    The answer is that the mother's boyfriend has absolutely no shot at adopting the child over the objections of the legal father (and since bio dad has been ordered to pay support he must have been determined the legal father) so long as the legal father's parental rights have not been terminated. Moreover, the mother would be foolish to do it even if it were possible. She may not realize it, but unlike step parent adoption, adoption by her boyfriend would mean that she also would lose her parental rights to the child. She won't get what she wants via adoption. Like it or not, the father has a legal right to visitation so long as he has not been determined unfit.
  • 08-15-2019, 02:59 AM
    llworking
    Re: Adoption of Child by Unmarried Person
    Quote:

    Quoting blady
    View Post
    My question involves adoption law for the State of: Indiana

    I am asking this for my granddaughter. She gave birth to son when she was 15 years old. The child is now 12 years old. Up until about 3 years ago the biological father had visitation. During one visitation CPS got involved as father had a drug problem. He was in and out of jail for the last 3 years and behind on child support. He has now become current on child support and has filed to have visitation re-established as mother has not let him or his family see or speak to the child for 3 years.

    She has been living with a man for the last 3 years and he has become like a surrogate father to the child. They are not married. She does not want the biological father or his family to have visitation. She tries to make the argument that the child is in sports and can not be away for visitation. There is a court date scheduled in 2 weeks on father's motion to re-establish visitation.

    So now she has decided that she wants her boyfriend to adopt the child. My question is in the State of Indiana can an unmarried man sue for adoption of a non-biological child? Even if the biological father wants to be in the child's life? I don't personally think that what she is doing is right but I am wondering if a court would grant such a request?

    If you ask the child, out of ear shot of his mother, he says he would like to see his father again. But his mother gets so upset that he is afraid of making her mad.

    Thank you.

    What your granddaughter wants simply cannot be done. You already have an explanation of why the adoption is not possible/is a horrible idea.

    Your granddaughter can make the argument that dad should have supervised visitation based on dad's drug problems and being in and out of jail. She can even make the argument that visitation should be scheduled around the child's sports schedule for similar reasons, but she is not going to be able to stop dad getting some kind of visitation with the child. If she comes across poorly to the judge, the judge may just order the guidelines to be followed, with no consideration for any issues dad might have, so she needs to tread lightly.
  • 08-15-2019, 07:52 AM
    blady
    Re: Adoption of Child by Unmarried Person
    Thanks. Now if I can only get her to listen. lol She has already paid a retainer fee to some lawyer to get this started. I don't understand why the lawyer did not simply tell her this or if she portrayed it as something different.

    She says that they will get married if they have to and do step-parent adoption. But father will still protest as he wants visitation rights re-established. The Court never took them away, the mother just stopped letting him have them after CPS investigated the father's living arrangements.
  • 08-15-2019, 08:49 AM
    jumanji
    Re: Adoption of Child by Unmarried Person
    Quote:

    Quoting blady
    View Post
    But father will still protest as he wants visitation rights re-established. The Court never took them away, the mother just stopped letting him have them after CPS investigated the father's living arrangements.

    Hopefully Dadalso filed against your granddaughter for contempt for denying court-ordered parenting time.
  • 08-15-2019, 09:06 AM
    adjusterjack
    Re: Adoption of Child by Unmarried Person
    Quote:

    Quoting blady
    View Post

    She says that they will get married if they have to and do step-parent adoption. But father will still protest as he wants visitation rights re-established.

    The step-parent adoption won't happen. The father will get visitation back.

    Your granddaughter is her own worst enemy. She is likely to spend tens of thousands of dollars before she figures that out.

    Meantime, the 12 year old is likely to grow up damaged because of what she is putting him through.
  • 08-15-2019, 09:24 AM
    searcher99
    Re: Adoption of Child by Unmarried Person
    From your thread Phone Deactivated by Mother

    Quote:

    Quoting blady
    View Post
    BTW, I am 27.

    Quote:

    Quoting blady
    View Post
    On my own, making my own money, have my own home. That is another reason she is pissed. I do not talk with her, that is why she sent my stepfather.

    From this thread:

    Quote:

    Quoting blady
    View Post
    I am asking this for my granddaughter. She gave birth to son when she was 15 years old. The child is now 12 years old.

    So which is it? Are you a 27 year old trying to get free of your mom or a great grandmother to a 12 year old boy?
  • 08-15-2019, 09:26 AM
    blady
    Re: Adoption of Child by Unmarried Person
    I am ggmother to 12 year old boy. My other granddaughter is 27 year old and posting under my id.
  • 08-15-2019, 09:30 AM
    searcher99
    Re: Adoption of Child by Unmarried Person
    You should change your password.
  • 08-15-2019, 09:38 AM
    pg1067
    Re: Adoption of Child by Unmarried Person
    FYI, there is no "biological" and "non-biological" father here. There's just the father. Your granddaughter's boyfriend is not any type of father

    Quote:

    Quoting blady
    View Post
    My question is in the State of Indiana can an unmarried man sue for adoption of a non-biological child? Even if the biological father wants to be in the child's life? I don't personally think that what she is doing is right but I am wondering if a court would grant such a request?

    Putting aside that the man in question is not married to the mother, the only way the adoption could happen would be if the father consented or his parental rights were terminated. Given what you told us, it seems unlikely that the child's father would consent, and your post suggests no basis for terminating his rights. Even if one of those things could happen, it is unlikely that a court would allow a mere boyfriend to adopt.

    It's also worth pointing out that your post strongly suggests that your granddaughter is not acting in her son's best interests.
  • 08-15-2019, 09:38 AM
    blady
    Re: Adoption of Child by Unmarried Person
    I don't see the problem with my granddaughter using my id to ask a question. Guess I am just old fashioned thinking on that.
  • 08-15-2019, 09:42 AM
    pg1067
    Re: Adoption of Child by Unmarried Person
    Quote:

    Quoting blady
    View Post
    Thanks. Now if I can only get her to listen. lol She has already paid a retainer fee to some lawyer to get this started. I don't understand why the lawyer did not simply tell her this or if she portrayed it as something different.

    It's worth pointing out that you're getting information here from anonymous strangers, not all of whom are lawyers and who may or may not be in Indiana. For example, I know that "Taxing Matters" is an attorney (but not in Indiana, which is also true for me), but I have no information whether anyone else who has responded in this thread is an attorney. In other words, in all things, information obtained from a local attorney is far more reliable than anything obtained on an internet message board.
  • 08-15-2019, 09:45 AM
    PayrolGuy
    Re: Adoption of Child by Unmarried Person
    Quote:

    Quoting blady
    View Post
    I don't see the problem with my granddaughter using my id to ask a question. Guess I am just old fashioned thinking on that.


    Creating an account here is free. But you do agree to certain things when creating an account. Your granddaughter has not agreed to those things.

    Plus it causes confusion.
  • 08-15-2019, 09:47 AM
    blady
    Re: Adoption of Child by Unmarried Person
    I agree with your comment about not acting in her son's best interests. I have tried to talk to her about that. She is just upset and a little stubborn about the father's mother being involved in child's life. I think that somewhere in the past there was some bad blood between the two. I just told her that I did not think it was a good idea and did not think she could do in the State of Indiana. She does not want to listen so I told her I would ask. She got the idea in her head when she got the papers for re-establishing visitation. The father has other children and one of them is married and petitioned the Court and won that her husband would adopt their child. She said the father failed to appear so his parental rights were terminated. I tried to tell her that that was a different situation but once she got it in her head, she won't get it out. She is adamant about her son seeing the father and other grandmother.

    Ok. I will tell her to get her own account the next time. Thanks.
  • 09-15-2019, 11:17 AM
    qwaspolk69
    Re: Adoption of Child by Unmarried Person
    Quote:

    Quoting blady
    View Post
    Thanks. Now if I can only get her to listen. lol She has already paid a retainer fee to some lawyer to get this started. I don't understand why the lawyer did not simply tell her this or if she portrayed it as something different.

    She says that they will get married if they have to and do step-parent adoption. But father will still protest as he wants visitation rights re-established. The Court never took them away, the mother just stopped letting him have them after CPS investigated the father's living arrangements.

    Let her waste her money and find out that she's not going to get what she wants. She's not going to listen to you or anyone else. It's unfortunate that her child has to suffer because of it though. Most likely the father will get visitation and she is going to have to deal with it. If he won't relinquish his rights, no stepparent adoption will happen either.

    Quote:

    Quoting blady
    View Post
    I don't see the problem with my granddaughter using my id to ask a question. Guess I am just old fashioned thinking on that.

    It could be an issue if someone uses your ID to post things...in this technological age you shouldn't let anyone use your passwords or accounts.
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