[ken1953]

Here is the situation:
In the early '80's, I married a girl in Arizona and had been raising her daughter, then an infant, as my own. We had 2 other children in the marriage. The natural father never wanted any contact with my daughter as stated in court and reaffirmed when my daughter tried to contact him a few years ago. However, he was ordered to pay child support and except for a few incidents, always forcibly met that obligation.
To make things even worse, the parental grandparents have even said they want nothing to do with her.
To worsen things a bit more, her mother and I divorced when she was only 5. We had procrastinated, a decision I have regretted ever since, filing adoption papers.
The final tragedy in my daughters existence, we lost her mother about 4 years ago, essentially leaving her parentless and her daughter without a legal maternal grandparent. Yes, I am treated as the grandparent, but, I have no legal rights if something were to happen to my daughter.
One of the good things that has happened over the years is that my exwife and I maintained a strained but good relationship with each other and my daughter was always kept close to me.
I have recently asked her to let me adopt her. I know that Arizona allows this. My questions are: Has anyone ever experienced this type of situation? Do we need to terminate the Natural Fathers Rights, which would probably not be a problem, and would just putting an ad in the paper be sufficient, as I'm not sure where he is now. I now live in Wisconsin and she lives in Arizona. Do we need to do this in AZ or can it be done in WI? Either is ok by me. What other things should we know before proceeding with this type of adoption? Finally, can I adopt her by myself or does my current wife have to also adopt her? I don't think this is a problem with my current wife, but my daughter might think it a disrespect to her deceased mother and I don't want to have to put her through that.
Any assistance or advice will be greatly appreciated.
Thanx,
Ken