Adoption Papers...?

My friend's husband would like to adopt her kids.. The biological father is not in the picture... What papers will I need... What are the procedures? Any adivce or documents would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

well my step-father adopted me but it took almost five years cause even though i didnt talk to my father or knew were he was they still tried to contact him for his approval and than after about five years they finnally granted it to me.


my advice would be to talk to a lawyer and see what he can do for you as far as getting around it..

Good Luck

First: unless you are licensed to practice law, you shouldn't be assisting with this. Clearly, you don't know the procedure that is needed, and an attorney who is licensed in your state would.

Step-parent adoptions aren't uncommon, and in many cases, are simpler and less expensive than a non-related adoption. The expense and time involved depends on if the missing biological parent can be located for the purpose of being given notice and waiving his rights, or if it is necessary to establish that he has effectively abandoned the child, and the court terminates his rights.

Trying to do it yourself is incredibly unwise. If not done properly, the mess that is made can be truly horriffic, and it will take an attorney MUCH more time and money to clean it up and do it properly than it would to pay an attorney to do it right the first time.

For a referral to an attorney, contact your local or state bar association.

This is too important to try to do without a lawyer. Hire one. You will thank yourself later.

" The biological father is not in the picture. "

That's somebody's conclusion; not a fact. Step parent adoptions are common & relatively easy provided the biological parent is either dead, or consents, or his parental rights have been earlier terminated by law. In any event, if he's not dead he must be notified if at all possible or the reasons why he can't be must be proven to the court. State procedures and forms vary. Your friend needs an attorney to do this right.

Contact a laywer. As long as their father is still living it doesn't matter if he is in the picture or not. They will need to find him and have him terminate his parental rights to the kids before any adoption process can even be considered. If he refuses to allow his parental rights to be terminated. There is really nothing they can do about it. If they can't find their father thats a different story; the court can terminate his rights eventually. But if he still has any contact with his kids or sends support payments they will not do this.

If the children's father is still living, those children cannot be adopted by anyone.

Sorry.

If the father of the kids wants to terminate his parental rights, he can do that by going to court and filing the correct papers. The judge will determine if he can do that or not.

The kids are HIS, period; he has his rights as a father and the kids have rights to know their father.

A lawyer won't even let you file papers without the fathers signature....