Step-Parent Adoption- father signed over parental rights

[tinymiss00]

I have a 7 year old son from a previous relationship. My husband and I were married mid year last year. My son's father signed over parental rights when my son was 2 years old and has not had any type of contact since. Legally, he is no longer my son's father.

My new husband would like to adopt my son. We recently found out we are pregnant and would like to have the adoption take place before our new baby is born so my son does not feel alienated (diff. last name, diff. father, etc) when the baby is born.

For further background, my son was born in California and his biological father lives in California. The order to terminate parental rights was done in California. We currently reside in Hawaii as my husband is military and this is where we are currently stationed.

My husband went to the legal department on base and was told to call an adoption agency....???? I'm guessing they did not understand our situation. It doesn't seem as though we would need to retain a lawyer for something which seems to be as simple as this- particularly since my son's biological father's rights have been legally terminated.

Advice definitely wanted!

Thank you-

 

[jharris352]

You still have to file an adoption petition. If you think you can work your way through that you won't need an attorney. I don't see any need for an adoption agency. Step-parent adoption is not that hard if you have the surrender of parental rights by the father and it is in proper form. Did a judge validate it when he did it? Did an attorney draw it up when it was done? How did you go about getting the surrender of parental rights from your ex? That is the only hitch I can see. Doing a step parent adoption is a matter of getting together the right papers and filing them in front of the right judge.

 

[tinymiss00]

A judge did validate it and we did go through an attorney in California when it was done. It was a difficult process (5 years ago I was a single parent so had to prove many things to the state, including that I was financially stable enough to provide for my son for the rest of his life without his father being involved), but it was finally done. It was completely uncontested by his bio father.

Last question- anybody know if we will come across any hang ups because we are now living in Hawaii and will be filing in Hawaii? I had come across a post in another forum where state of residency was an issue for a military family and wasn't sure if something similar might apply to us.

 

[tinymiss00]

disregard last post, I found the petition for adoption and there's a space you can check if you are military residing on the Island where petition is being filed. Thanks so much for help/input!