Emergency Stepparent Adoption & Unable to Locate Biological Father

by Kellei from Lakeland, Florida, Polk County

Emergency Stepparent Adoption & Unable to Locate Biological Father: My ex-husband and I divorced shortly after our son was born. He did not show for Court, so the judge stated he had no visitation rights until he completed his courses and Petitioned the Court. To this date, he still has not complied and I have also never received child support.



My son is 6 years old now and my ex-husband, his biological father, has not spoken to or seen him since before he was 2 years old. My current husband and I started dating soon after that and now we are married. We were trying to do this adoption for the last year or two, but we have run into red tape everywhere because we are unable to find my ex-husband.

Last week I was diagnosed with a form of carcinoma and I am getting ready to have surgery and treatment. Is there anything to be done on an emergency basis to make sure my son is covered. My son has never known another father. Please help.

Answer to Florida Adoption Question

Dear Kellei,

I am so sorry to hear of your medical condition; and also that you have spent so long trying to accomplish a relatively simple legal task.

I know it is difficult to find answers when the court clerks aren't allowed to offer any help.

There are Florida Supreme Court approved forms for stepparent adoption, which are free downloads on the Supreme Court's site, www.flcourts.org

I'm sure the difficulty that you are experiencing is because you do not have an address for the biological father.

There is a way through it, however. You can try and locate him, and show the court that you have tried. The form that you base your search upon, and that you present to the clerk of court is called an Affidavit of Diligent Search.

There are around 20 places and ways listed on the form, where you can search. After you have searched, and not found him, you can then request that he be served by constructive service, which is service of process by publication. If he does not respond after a period of time, then you can request a hearing for the adoption.

Or, you may be able to file the Joint Petition for Stepparent Adoption and state that the biological father has abandoned his son; and that your medical condition requires that the adoption be expedited.

Notice: We provide these answers to the general public and our website visitors as a means to further their online legal research. These answers are merely suggestions and should not be regarded as legal advice.

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