How can my fiance adopt my 16 month old in Missouri Missouri

[maddismom]

My daughter is 16 months old. her biological father and i dated for awhile and i ended up pregnant. he did sign the birth certificate. we broke up when i was 4 months pregnant. i spoke to him only a couple times, then he went to jail for 120 days for violations of probation and having 3 DWI's. He has saw her 2 times, once when she was about a week old and again at about 3 weeks. I have received no money from him. a CS order was placed 3 months ago, because she has medicaid and they had to go after him for it. he has not payed any of it, and switched jobs twice already because of the income withholding papers. i do not know where he is living or working. he has had no contact i met my fiance when she was 3 months old, we are now engaged and wil be getting married in september. thats her daddy, hes all shes ever known. he has always wanted to adopt her, how do we go about him adopting her?? how long do we have to be married? does he have to voluntarily sign over rights? he has had no contact with us since she was about 6 months old when he called me and told me he wanted a paternity test, i told him no. any help would be greatly appreciated!! Thanks!!

[cyjeff]

First, you get married.

Then, you stay married at least a year.

Then, you get the bio dad to sign his rights over.

[maddismom]

i dont know where he is, and he will be a jerk about it more than likely and not sign them over

[mommyof4]

Which is his right. He doesn't HAVE to voluntarily TPR just because that is what you want and some other man wants to be Daddy.

In that case, expect a very long, and most likely unsuccessful court battle.

[xena]

hi..you have very similar story of my cousin in texas,now everything has been sorted out..maybe she can give you advice on every procedure shes underwent..i will pm you her email..

Hopefully the OP will get your message. Unfortunately she hasn't logged on since the end of March.

[mommyof4]

I will further point out that Tx has very different laws and guidelines for tpr than most other states. For instance, marriage to a person ready, willing and able to adopt is not legally required.