[michele@miletwo]

We are in the process of a step parent adoption that we thought would be a slam dunk! However, the Bio Dad will not give consent. (HISTORY) I have been married for 14 years and my son is 15, the bio dad has never contacted or financially supported us within the last 15 years!Our lawyer is going to serve him with a 30 day termination of parental rights. If I understand this process correctly he has 30 days to respond to this? After the 30th day all rights are terminated. However, our social worker said after his conversation with the bio Dad he can guarantee he will respond. Will the court actually give this guy any rights after all these years? Can he actually stop the adoption process? Please help...... P.S. my lawyer said the next step after this is abandonment, but it's a much longer process. I thought California was strict with dead beat Dads. Thank you.

[christina_davis]

Dont worry, things will go in your favor.. I just was through this last month, bio-dad contested would not sign his rights away, it took about 3 months of appearing in court but finally we had to prove abandonment, wich is very easy to do, especially if he has not seen nor talked to your child in over 1 year. You know that is the law here, for you to prove abandonment you arre going to be told by the judge you are going under the provisions of CIVIL CODE 8604.B. look that up and you will totally understand it, and believe me it actually works in court.. We proved abandonment and the adoption went through the next week.. good luck to you i know you will win, there is nothing to worry about go for the abandonment...if you have any questions let me know k....

[xenasdw1]

Hello christina_davis I tried looking up the civil code 8604.B and did not find anything, i am using the site www.leginfo.ca.gov for the California codes. Could you point me in a better direction if you have one, also it is under the civil code section? Please reply. Thank you.

[christina_davis]

8604. (a) Except as provided in subdivision (b), a child having a
presumed father under Section 7611 may not be adopted without the
consent of the child's birth parents, if living.
(b) If one birth parent has been awarded custody by judicial
order, or has custody by agreement of both parents, and the other
birth parent for a period of one year willfully fails to communicate
with and to pay for the care, support, and education of the child
when able to do so, then the birth parent having sole custody may
consent to the adoption, but only after the birth parent not having
custody has been served with a copy of a citation in the manner
provided by law for the service of a summons in a civil action that
requires the birth parent not having custody to appear at the time
and place set for the appearance in court under Section 8718, 8823,
8913, or 9007.
(c) Failure of a birth parent to pay for the care, support, and
education of the child for the period of one year or failure of a
birth parent to communicate with the child for the period of one year
is prima facie evidence that the failure was willful and without
lawful excuse.

Sorry for taking so long to reply, i hope this helps..