Step parent adoption?
Virginia Beach (VA)
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Posted about 1 month ago in Adoption.
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I want to know if my fiancee can adopt my daughter. She is 32 months, her father didnt want to do anything in the beginning, mostly because he was in jail. Last year he started with visitation and since then I have gotten a protective order against him for the next 2 years, which she is part of. My fiancee has been there from the very start and we have been living together the whole time he takes care of her like his own, which I am glad to say that I am pregnant!!! Can he adopt her considering that he has a history of violence and since she doesnt know him. She will be 3 and he hasnt even been in her life a year yet. Please help I live in VA and I really want us to be one big happy family like we are already.
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Knowing that he has done the bare minimum he knows it would be whats best for her he has said it himself, but he is not going to terminate his rights. Answers (3)
Jean M. Kies
Posted about 1 month ago.
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There can be no step-parent adoption until the biological father's rights are terminated.
Birney O'Brian Bull
Posted about 1 month ago.
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As Ms. Kies notes, you can't make any progress without addressing the biological father's rights. I'm in GA, not VA; it would be a little tricky under GA law, but likely doable.
You really need to consult an attorney who understands the complexities of adoption law (too many lawyers don't realize how complicated it can get). You could do worse than checking the VA directory page of the American Academy of Adoption Attorneys: http://www2.adoptionattorneys.org/states/state.asp?st=VA They will know the relevant law. (They'll also know how to render a bill! But "you get what you pay for," etc.) Hope that helps! 
Michael E Hendrickson
Posted about 1 month ago.
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In the Commonwealth of Virginia, a step-parent adoption includes a hearing within the adoption process to terminate the parental rights of the natural parent.
However, before any such adoption may take place, the prospective adoptive parent must first be married to the subject child's natural or adoptive parent. (However, if your fiance has a history of violence and the natural father wishes to contest the termination of his parental rightts, this could prove problematical.) Next question: Child rights Previous question: Visit to the pediatrician |
