How to voluntarily relinquish parental rights in AR Arkansas

[AR girl]

Me and My boyfriend are planning on marrying and have raised my 6 month old daughter. We had a DNA test done to be sure she was his and he is not her biological father. My boyfriend's name is on the birth certificate and she has his last name. My boyfriend wants to be her father.
I talked to the biological father out of respect, not wanting anything, and he doesn't want anything to do with the situation and I dont want him to either. He was very sure he did not want to ever be involved and wanted no one to know he was the father. I agreed and wanted the same. However, my boyfriend thinks it is best for the biological father to sign over his parental rights so he can't come and claim to have rights in the future- even though I dont believe that will happen. Do we have to have a court case in AR to do this or can the biological father just sign some papers? How does the process work? And does he even have rights if his name is not on anything saying he is the father?
Thanks so much.

[panther10758]

So you went and comitted fraud! Your BF cannot adopt this child as he signed BC so he is legally Father.

[AR girl]

What? I did not understand by the way you formed your sentence.

[panther10758]

Your BF signed BC and is not Father that is fraud! However sense you did this he (your BF) is legal Father. Unless the real Dad contest this that wont change. There is no need for adoption your BF is already legal Father

[AR girl]

It was not intentional. Thanks for trying to help.
Does anyone else have any answers?
Thanks

[mommyof4]

Yes, I have an answer if you can answer my question. Did your boyfriend sign the affidavit of paternity? Whose name is on the birth certificate does not establish LEGAL paternity.

If he has signed the AoP, what y'all have done is a back door adoption. I'm not saying you did it intentionally, but that IS what has happened.

Answer my question and then I can give you an idea of where to go from here.

[Alice Dodd]

Your BF signed BC and is not Father that is fraud!

Not if he signed it believing he WAS the father and found out later that he wasn't. You might want to get more facts and make sure you understand them before jumping down someone's throat.

[AR girl]

Thank you. We did believe he was the father. This has been very hard for both of us...
And to answer your question, he did sign a punative father registry for the state. He did that before my daughter was born because we were not together then and he wanted to be safe.

[mommyof4]

What about the affidavit of paternity?

Going on the assumption that legal paternity has been established, your bf is going to need to disestablish paternity, legal paternity should be established for the actual father, then the father will need to voluntarily terminate parental rights, and your HUSBAND will need to adopt the child.

I emphasize husband (after at least one year, usually) because he won't be able to adopt as just your boyfriend and most courts like to see at least a miniimal amount of history of a stable marriage before adoption will be granted.

Now, that is the correct and legal way to do this. You can leave it as is (again, assuming legal paternity was established for your bf), but if you do, you are risking that the father of your child could *possibly* cause some serious problems for your family in the future.

I strongly suggest you speak to an atty to help you sort this out in the least painful manner possible.