[sweetismejk]

I moved to Kentucky in March of 2004 from Ohio and my fiance (soon to be husband) is really wanting to get started on trying to adopt my daughter that just turned 2 ... her biological father has no visitation rights and has not saw her since she was a little over 1 year old and hasn't paid anything in child support since September of 2003. Our divorce and the Child support order is from Ohio so I'm trying to find out whether I need to start the adoption in Ohio or Kentucky and what steps I need to take. I'm not sure whether it will be an easy process or not because I think the biological father may just fight me over it just for spike even though his visiation rights have been taken away and he can't see her anyways. A lawyer friend of mine told me the best way to go about it would be to file a lawsuit against him for the child support when it reaches the felony limit and then drop the charges if he signs his rights away but that lawyer was from Kentucky and wasn't sure without looking into it further if I needed to do it in Ohio beings that is where it all started and that is where the biological father is .... I would really appreciate anyone's advise or bits of information that will help me in the right direction... Thanks!!!!!!!

[Kallen330]

The state you live in usually has jurisdiction in a case like this. Contact the local court in your area that handles adoptions and ask them how you should proceed. You may also want to contact the department of social services and speak to someone who handles stepparent adoptions. They can be very helpful as well.

You may also want to ask if you need to be married for a certain length of time before a stepparent adoption can be done.


Good luck!

[BrandyHagz]

A lawyer friend of mine told me the best way to go about it would be to file a lawsuit against him for the child support when it reaches the felony limit and then drop the charges if he signs his rights away

Some states consider this coercion…investigate the laws of your state VERY carefully.

Some states also wont dismiss or forgive back support owed, and you cant excuse it, support is the right of the child…so before you offer something like that, look at the laws of your state.

If coercion is used for purposes of adoption, the adoption can be overturned, and all the hard work and money you’ve spent to pursue the adoption will be void.

[carofl93]

If your CS is attached to CSE, you can't drop it because it is in the hands of the state. Just another point to ponder...