Legal Question in Family Law in South Carolina

In South Carolina you may file an action to terminate the mother's parental rights if she has willfully failed to visit for more than 6 months or has willfully failed to support the child for more than 6 months (among several other reasons). Your circumstances state it has been 2 years so you should be able to get things started. I would suggest filing one action for the termination of parental rights and the adoption by a step-parent. There are several forms that will need to be filed and everything MUST be done exactly as the law states--so I would suggest hiring an attorney to help you through the process. The attorney will know exactly what to do to make things move along smoothly. If you cannot afford an attorney you may qualify for SC Legal Services (you can search them on the web to contact). A Guardian ad litem is needed to make sure the termination and adoption are in the child's best interest. The good news is that step parent adoptions can be done rather quickly and you will not need the background check or the home evaluation. You are allowed to file the action without an attorney but I would not recommend this for a termination/adoption due to the complicated nature of the process. I hope this information helps.