[duster902]

Hello, I am new to this site and am amazed at how common step parent adoption is. I thought i would be one of the few, great to know I am not.My husband of two years is in the United Stated Marine Corps and we are stationed at Camp Pendleton California, we are from Indiana.My son, who is 6, was born in Indiana, his bio father has not seen him since he was 6 months old , we have no court order child support, no visitation set up, we have never even been in a court room. Which as far as I know in Indiana means he has no rights, until we go to court, if this is not true let me know.Well we have not seen or heard from him since my son was 6 months old, cant find him, i know he was in prison for a while but after that I have no idea, could be dead for all i know.My husband wants to adopt him now and I have a few questions 1)Do we go by Indiana laws or California laws?2)Do we have to find this loser and get permission?3)Where do I start? Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks so much and good luck to everybody that is in the same situation.

[BlessedNavyWife]

Hi Duster,

First off, being in the military gives you some great benefits!! Use them! The USMC will offer FREE legal to you. Call the legal office and set up an appointment to meet with one of the Lt.'s or JG.'s

You will have to fill out a form that they'll provide for you. In this form, they will ask your situation and any information you have on the Bio Father. (IE Last known address, SSN) If you have an address, they will send out a letter or petition stating that your husband wants to adopt your son. If BF contests it, then it'll be much more difficult for you.

They will require due diligence (I believe that's the name of it) where they will have to try, by law to locate BF. The attorney at the legal office will handle all of this for you. They will put an ad in the paper (In California), run it for about 4-6 weeks and if BF doesn't respond, they will continue with the paperwork.

The entire process should take about 5 months (from start of paperwork to end). Making an appointment with the courts is a little different (depending on their time schedule). Once you have the completed paper work from legal, you take it to the courthouse, file a petition and wait for a date.

Hope this helps and good luck!

[jennipooh]

hi, i am kinda in the same boat as you are. my little girls dad had only seen her for maybe 4 months of her first year and then nothing else since. when my husband decided to adopt her and we got orders overseas we had to get a court order to come over here and then for him to adopt we had to terminate the biological fathers rights which we had to have proof of our efforts to find him--certified letters, private investigator, publications in our home state and the state which we last know of him being before we could get a court date and the judge to pass the termination. the fact that he had not seen her in 3 years and only payed a total of maybe 600 in child support and 10000 in the hole. with no effort to continue is the only thing that got his rights terminated. that is what you will probably have to do first or at least in alabama. even though my husband and i have been together for 3 years we have only been married a short time and he is not eligable to adopt my daughter until we have been married for a year by alabama laws. and the military legal office is not much of a help because the only thing they can tell us is to research and do the adoption stuff on our own or get a lawyer in the states but we can not afford one right now and that is why i thought they were here for us. if you can help me in any way please do so and if i find more out i will let you know. you can also email me at jennipooh00@yahoo.com