[spitzlvr]

A friend of mine was wondering if it was possible to terminate a father's rights to a child. I am not talking about to adopt out the baby, she just wants to sever the ties between the baby and him.

Keep in mind I am not judging her - I am only asking if anyone knows if this is possible (I do realize she would need his consent)

She is going to contact a laywer to find out - what kind of lawyer do you think would be best?

Thanks for any help

[DianeS]

This is not typically allowed.

The issue I always hear is that the child is entitled to support from his biological father, and the court will not terminate a child's ability to receive that support - unless there is another man in the picture willing to assume the responsibility of providing that support by adopting the child.

But I have heard of a couple cases where a judge has actually TPRed a parent without a step parent willing to adopt. Just a couple cases, though, it's not at all common. And none of them were voluntarially agreed to by the father - they were ordered by a judge, because of a previous legal issues with the bio father. ( I remember one case, it was when the bio father attacked and raped the mom, thereby creating the pregnancy. Another was because the bio father had previously beaten and killed another child.)

So you can see that it usually (always?) requires that the bio father has done something downright illegal and evil, not just being a bad example or "not deserving" a darling child, or anything like that.

So no real legal information in this, maybe just a precaution for your friend to get her ducks in a row before she talks to a lawyer. Whatever happened that makes her think this is a good idea, she'll need documentation of it, basically enough to prove the bio father guilty of somethig in a court of law if he hasn't already been convicted, and enough documentation to prove the risk to this particular child if that hasn't been proven already.

I hope that helps.