[MkMw]

I *think* (I am in no way a legal expert) that if they know who and where he is they, they have to serve him directly. And, if they know who but have no address they can publish in a paper at his last known address. I know that when I divorced my first husband that was the process.

As far as the foster care, that is a very personal decision. There are certainly some emotional risks involved, but speaking as someone who adopted with a legal risk, I am so glad I took the risk. It also gave me a huge amount of empathy for Birth and foster/adopt parents. It would have broken my heart if things had worked out differently.

(In our case BMom had 60 days after signing, she signed when they were 2 weeks old, THEN they started the process to terminate BFather's rights, because it was international they wanted to make that he had every opportunity to exercise his rights (rightly so) - it just took another 2 MONTHS to get him in front of the judge - so the boys were in legal limbo, and I think that was the hardest for me.)

I hope things work out, definately talk to an attorney who specializes in adoption, and has experience with absentee BirthFathers.

Good luck!