[bccka]

Hi,

My husband would like to adopt my daughter. He has been in her life since she was 5 months old. She is 6 now. Her biological father pays child support(court ordered by DSS-I received medicaid while pregnant). He has not had any contact with her since she was born. Do I need an attorney to file for the adoption? Is there a way to do the adoption without going to court if he agrees? If so does anyone know what forms I would need to file with the court/ I have looked at the forms website, but haven't a clue which ones I need. I am in Allegany County in NY. Thanks for any help.

[ginaarmien]

Originally Posted by bccka

Hi,

My husband would like to adopt my daughter. He has been in her life since she was 5 months old. She is 6 now. Her biological father pays child support(court ordered by DSS-I received medicaid while pregnant). He has not had any contact with her since she was born. Do I need an attorney to file for the adoption? Is there a way to do the adoption without going to court if he agrees? If so does anyone know what forms I would need to file with the court/ I have looked at the forms website, but haven't a clue which ones I need. I am in Allegany County in NY. Thanks for any help.

I'm in FL and you may have already realized that everything is different everywhere! I know that's part of the frustration... If bio-dad is ok signing over his rights (which will terminate his child support) then I'd say either try to do it yourself or find a paralegal. I knew what I wanted to do just didn't know what forms to use. My paralegal, court costs, publication in the paper (which you probably won't have to do) cost us less than $1,000, I wanna say the paralegal's fee was $200-300 of that. Well worth it if you ask me... there's a lot of forms that we had to fill out and have notarized and I could never have done it all correctly myself.

You'll still have to go to court probably. I know that in FL we couldn't do anything without going to the courthouse and seeing the judge. You, child and step-dad will have to show up. From what I understand they'll send a letter to bio-dad about the court date and time and location. He shows up if he wants to protest it or tell the judge he supports it (I think he could also mail a letter in the event he supports it but...). If he does not show up his rights are terminated and your daughter's adopted. Some employeers have a help line that offers legal advice, maybe you have access to something like that? You can try to call the local courthouse to get info on what forms you need, but mine was anything but helpful!

I just got my daughter's new birth certificate in the mail with my husband's (her step-dad) last name as part of hers now. It's a thrill! It took us a while to get it done (almost a year) mostly because of finiancial issues but now that's it's over it feels so great!

Best wishes to you and your family...

[DANSouthHadley]

My husben adopted my son Last august. His Bio father had never even met him. I just went to the probate courthouse and got the form "consent to terminate parental right". His father signed and within two months. My husben, me and, my son went to court and finalized the adoption. This is in Mass. But I am sure there may be something like that in NY.