Legal Question in Family Law in Texas
My husband and I have two adopted children. There mother was my sister who has passed away. They have different biological fathers. The oldest boy has a confirmed father who has also passed away. The youngest had a unknown father. His mother, my sister, died due to complication after child birth. I will tell you now my sister was a severe cocaine addict and that was the reason we were already the foster parents of her older boy at her death. With a case worker and PI we tried to track down the bio father and sent notices to all possible candidates so we could adopt. No one can forward and paternal rights were terminated. Now, five years later, one of the candidates has come forward. DNA test proves paternity. His was an addict himself and when he received the notice he did not feel at the time he was in a position to raise a child and ignored the notice. He is now 1 year clean, getting remarried and having another child. He wants to "bring his family together".
The boy has medical issues due to her mother's addiction. My husband and I have really good health insurance and have been able to give him all he needs. His bio father does not have any health insurance. I want him to be a part of his son's life but not have custody. I don't trust his sobriety, employment or his 5 year abandonment. I know his rights were terminated but is there anyway he can he contest the adoption? If so, how likely are the courts to side with my husband and I?
2 Answers from Attorneys
If he was properly notified of the Termination it is unlikely he has grounds to contest the Adoption.
As Ms. Stevens noted, if he was properly served with notice of the termination proceeding, it really doesn't matter now what his reasons were for not speakIng up. The time for doing that is long gone, and I don't believe there's even a legal mechanism in place to reopen and contest a termination proceeding more than six months after entry of the termination order. If you want to let him have some kind of limited involvement, you can, but that's up yo you.