adoption without fathers consent

aqueous

Hi
Here's the predicament. My sister is getting married next year and she has 2 boys from a previous relationship. The father of the 2 boys has left the country and there has been no contact for the last 7 years. Can her fiance adopt the 2 kids when they are married. The father's name is on one of the birth certs but not on the other. Can anyone offer some advice on this please. She doesnt know his exact whereabouts or have any contact details.

kathy finn

hi i think after a certain time has elasped and their has been no contact from the father it is considered abandonment, talk to a family lawyer but im nearly sure it would be ok....kathy

aqueous

thanks kathy. just wondering are there any solicitors on here who may have the answer

neelyohara

I agree with Kathy but why not try the legal eagles, you'll find them under Soc and then 'Legal Discussion'

Hopefully someone will help

Cavehill Red

kathy finn wrote: »

hi i think after a certain time has elasped and their has been no contact from the father it is considered abandonment, talk to a family lawyer but im nearly sure it would be ok....kathy

This is not the case. I suggest you read the Adoption 2010 Act as regards step-parent adoption.

AckwelFoley

http://www.aai.gov.ie/index.php/domestic-adoption/step-parent-adoption.html

If he is not a guardian of the child, the Authority is legally obliged to notify the birth father that an adoption application has been made in respect of their biological child. Since 1998, birth fathers have the right to be notified of the adoption of their child. The Adoption Act, 1998 requires the Authority to consult with the birth father about the adoption application. The birth father's consent is only required if he is a legal guardian of the child. If he is not a guardian, it is up to him to seek access and/or guardianship through the courts.

OS119

snyper wrote: »

http://www.aai.gov.ie/index.php/domestic-adoption/step-parent-adoption.html

OP, you need to talk to an experienced solicitor - and social worker - about this.

if the above piece is a factual interpretation of both the law and what actually happens in such cases, then a very big issue is going to be the problem of 'consultation' with somebody who'se whereabouts are unknown.

in some aspects of the law - bankruptsy being an obvious one - a court will deem that interested parties have been informed if the court puts up a notice in its entrance hall and a 1 inch advert on page 96 of the local paper, and anyone subsequently protesting that they didn't know about the proceedings being told 'tough luck, we advertised it. that you didn't look where we adviertised it is your problem'.

only experienced professionals will be able to tell you how far the court will take this requirement, how hard they'll try and what will happen if they are unable to trace/contact the father - the best case may be that they write to him twice at his last known address, consider him consulted and get on with it, the worst case may be that they require you to trace him and won't continue the process until they get an answer from him.

AckwelFoley

OS119 wrote: »

OP, you need to talk to an experienced solicitor - and social worker - about this.

if the above piece is a factual interpretation of both the law and what actually happens in such cases, then a very big issue is going to be the problem of 'consultation' with somebody who'se whereabouts are unknown.

in some aspects of the law - bankruptsy being an obvious one - a court will deem that interested parties have been informed if the court puts up a notice in its entrance hall and a 1 inch advert on page 96 of the local paper, and anyone subsequently protesting that they didn't know about the proceedings being told 'tough luck, we advertised it. that you didn't look where we adviertised it is your problem'.

only experienced professionals will be able to tell you how far the court will take this requirement, how hard they'll try and what will happen if they are unable to trace/contact the father - the best case may be that they write to him twice at his last known address, consider him consulted and get on with it, the worst case may be that they require you to trace him and won't continue the process until they get an answer from him.

Yes, good point, and is something ive thought about too.

mimi7365

I have some experience of this. The Adoption Authority will make every effort to contact the birth father. The birth mother provides them with the last known address for him or his family. They will write to him at that address and give him a defined length of time to respond. If there is no reply, they will proceed with the next step in the adoption process.

If the birth mother does not have an address for him or his family, she will have to swear an affadavit in front of a judge to say she doesn't know of the birth father's whereabouts.

However bear in mind that if the birth father re-emerges at a later stage, and all efforts were not exhausted in finding him, ie if the birth mother lies about not knowing where he or his family reside, he can then challenge the adoption in the courts.

OS119

mimi7365 wrote: »

I have some experience of this. The Adoption Authority will make every effort to contact the birth father. The birth mother provides them with the last known address for him or his family. They will write to him at that address and give him a defined length of time to respond. If there is no reply, they will proceed with the next step in the adoption process...

now, to me, thats not 'every effort' - thats nothing more than a 'tick box' effort.

'very effort' would be the court contacting the Police, tax authorities, social welfare, passport agency, and any other state body that the father may be in contact with, to see if they have more recent contact details. it would probably involve a credit check as well to see if any bank or other financial institution is in contact with the man.

if writing to the last known address is their version of 'every effort', i'm not surprised they get challenged at a later date in the courts.

mimi7365

OS119 wrote: »

now, to me, thats not 'every effort' - thats nothing more than a 'tick box' effort.

'very effort' would be the court contacting the Police, tax authorities, social welfare, passport agency, and any other state body that the father may be in contact with, to see if they have more recent contact details. it would probably involve a credit check as well to see if any bank or other financial institution is in contact with the man.

if writing to the last known address is their version of 'every effort', i'm not surprised they get challenged at a later date in the courts.

I know of no challenge to a step-parent adoption.

zoeczk

aqueous wrote: »

Hi
Here's the predicament. My sister is getting married next year and she has 2 boys from a previous relationship. The father of the 2 boys has left the country and there has been no contact for the last 7 years. Can her fiance adopt the 2 kids when they are married. The father's name is on one of the birth certs but not on the other. Can anyone offer some advice on this please. She doesnt know his exact whereabouts or have any contact details.

i have the same problem. my son is 12 and my husband( His Stepfather) wants to adopt him. I had my son at 18 and was told by the father that he didnt want to know. i had some contact when my son was between 3 and 9 minths old and nothing since. i dont want to go dredging up the past. My son hasnt seen his birth father in over 11 years. Dont see why i should have to contact him now just because someone else is willing to take over his responsibility. also have absolutely no idea where he is. myself and my husband have been married for 5 years, and the only thing that is holding up the adoption process is that i dont want to contact the birth father. I am living in the same place now as i was when i had my son if he was interested he would have found me by now

bernmee

It has been a while since I worked as a soilicitor but back then, if you had submitted any paper work such as birth cert with fathers name on it, then the father, even if he hasn't been around still has a say. I always swore if I did have an 'unexpected' child with a man there was no way his name would be going anywhere!

It now looks like, accoring to the 2010 Act, that even if you haven't named him, you still have to jump through hoops.

The law is there to protect everyone, but it isn't always about right and wrong, and it can be a realy pain in the ass, but it is there and must be followed.

Good luck.

mimi7365

Zoeczk

I had the very same issues around contacting the birth father/dragging up the past and used it as an excuse to not go through with the step-parent adoption process. However, the truth was I was afraid.

My husband made me see that my fear of what might happen when the birth father was contacted was irrational and that I needed to focus on the reason why we were going through the adoption process in the first place - to secure, legally, the position of my daughter in our family. She already knew that my husband loved her like she was his birth daughter so the next step seemed logical and that was for him to adopt her. She wanted it, he wanted it and I was allowing my fear to stand in the way of them sealing legally the emotional bond they already had formed.

So I went for it. I wrote an informal note to the birth father at his family's home place to let him know that the adoption was being proposed. The Adoption Board followed up with their formal notification. There then followed a period of time for birth father to consider his position and whether he wanted to apply for guardianship. This was a very anxious time for me but in the end, birth father decided he wouldn't oppose the adoption. He hadn't been part of my daughters life for many many years.
We had no contact with him at all before, during or after the adoption process other than the informal note I wrote to him at the beginning of the process.

My advice, go for it - it is so important for your son legally to be part of the family unit you and your husband have, and for him to have equal rights with any children you may have with your husband.

Good luck.

Bally8

We are sending the adoption papers off in the morning. Im delighted and cant wait for the process to start. My husband and I are adopting my 11 year old daughter. Her biological father has had no contact with me since I was 3 months pregnant. I have no idea where he is and his name is not on her birth cert. He had no interest in being a father and I dont think he even knows if I had a boy or girl.

I will soon find out what the adoption board do in order to try to find him. She would love to meet him so I dont mind if they do. I presume I will be signing an affidavit to say I dont know how to contact him and that will be the end of it. I will post back in the next few months once they contact me.

Best of luck with it.