Legal Question in Family Law in Virginia
uncontested adoption
I asked a question on 1/20/09 about uncontested adoption and was given this answer: You are quite mistaken; the father of this child very much has his parental rights intact until a court of proper jurisdiction sees fit to terminate them.
If your current husband wishes to initiate a step-parent adoption proceeding of this child, the biological father of the subject child must be given the required legal notice in order to contest it if he so chooses.
My question now is how do you give legal notification if I have no way to contact my ex? As of right now I do not have a telephone number for him nor am I even sure of what state that he is located in. His family won't even answer any of my calls due to the fact that he has faltered on his loans and his debt collectors have been calling me to find out how to get into contact with him. Is there still away to proceed with the adoption as this is something that both my son and my husband want?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: uncontested adoption
You can proceed with this. However, I would suggest you consider hiring an attorney to handle this matter. I don't think you will find answers in an online forum to solve these issues. If you need further help or a referral, feel free to contact me.
Re: uncontested adoption
If the biological father cannot be located, you obtain permission from the court handling the step-parent adoption to publish a notice of the pending adoption in a local newspaper for a number of consecutive weeks. The law terms this a "constructive notice".
As Mr. Moseley has already suggested, you should obtain the services of an attorney experienced with adoption matters and who can further advise you.
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