[Gigglesann]

The mother of my two step-children has not seen them in over four years. She didn't show up to the last court date all those years ago and the no-contact order has remained in place. Being a meth addict, she resorted to identity theft and check forging to support her habbit, causing her to spend a lot of time in jail over these past few years. Now we are told she lives in a motor home with no address. About once a year Child Support sends us a check. Two were for about $5.00 and one was about $25.00, so does this mean there is no abandonment?

Here is the dilema. The older child has a different biological father. The biological father is from another state and was a jail bird too, and since conception has never had contact with the birth mother or the child.

We are wanting to do something to secure the future of these children in the event something happens to my husband. I can't imagine them being placed in the care of their birth mother.

Any suggestions? What would you do?

[stepadoptionblog]

In order to do a stepparent adoption you will have to contact the biological mother of the boys, as well as the biological father of the oldest boy to get consent from them. If they have not had contact with the children in so long, and are living such an "alternative life style" their is a good chance that they will simply want to be rid of the responsibility of the kids.

If you cannot locate the biological parents, you will need to post a notice in the paper for about 30 days, announcing your intention to adopt the boys. After the 30 day post, their is another waiting period of usually no more than two weeks, giving the absent parent a last chance to respond to the notice. If the court receives no response from the biological parents, the stepparent adoption will continue on as though they have waived their rights.

This sounds like it may be the way for you to go, if you do not have, or cannot get, a fixed address for either parent. It can be especially hard to find a parent when he or she is a drug user, they tend to "lay low" on purpose which makes contacting them harder.

Julie
http://stepparent.adoptionblogs.com/

[Gigglesann]

Thank you for your advice Julie~