Legal Question in Family Law in Illinois
My daughters biological father is not in her life. When she was young he threatened both my and her lives. So I got a restraining order put on him. A 2 week emergency one, then a court date set for a 2 year long one. He didn't show up so they gave the 2 year order against him. That order expired on Dec. 6th of 2009. He has more than one child and the mother and I keep in contact. The other childs mother told me that he had said he wants to sign over his rights to both children. I have a fiance that I plan on marrying and he has been in my daughters' life since she was 7 months old. She is now 3 years old. So he has been in our lives for over 2 years, she calls him dad, etc. Thing is we plan on having him adopt her. Does the biological father have any rights even though he's not on the birth certificate but on the restraining order form in writing? And will that interfere with the adoption process? Is there anything I need to do to fight that and how would I go about doing that?
1 Answer from Attorneys
As the father he has the right to notice of the adoption. It should not interfere with the adoption. If he wants to "admit" to being the father, does he want to pay support back to her birth. Unlikely. If he appears, he would probably consent to the adoption.