Legal Question in Family Law in Georgia

My twin great-neices have been in the care of my husband and me since August 2004. We have had legal temporary guardianship (voluntarily from parents) since 2006. The children have had very minimal contact with the parents in that time. No visitation, understandable since we live in Georgia and they live in California. However, the parents make very little effort to maintain a relationship. There has been the occasional phone call (none in at least 9 months), the rare gift sent, and no monetary support at all in the 5 years. We are interested in the process involved in moving forward with adoption, in order to give the girls a sense of permanency. I do not believe that the parents will voluntarily give up the rights, however. Oh,yes, I think that I need to mention that the children were 3 when they came, that the father was in prison at that time and has been in and out since, and mother also imprisoned in 2004 and released in 2005.

If we went pursued this course, what is the likelihood that we would be successful in terminating parental rights involuntarily? We are not wealthy and do not want to waste money on a fruitless endeavor.


Asked on 8/06/09, 9:32 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Glen Ashman Ashman Law Office also dba Glen Ashman Attorney

As a general rule, you cannot adopt a child without the consent of at least one parent, so absent that, it is highly unlikely unless the state takes the children and happens to place them with you for adoption. Additionally, adoption is generally not going to happen where there is some support (and a gift might qualify as support) or some effort to see the children (and a phone call might meet that test given the distance).

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Answered on 8/16/09, 11:06 pm


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