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Topics - tweety1

#1
Dear Socrateaser / termination of parental rights
May 12, 2006, 02:19:01 PM
Hi Socrateaser,

I will try to keep this brief.

History:

Due to abuse by BM I have had custody (sole, legal and physical) of a child for 2.6 years.  The child is also a family member of mine.  During the past 2.6 years BF has not objected to me having custody and has also verbally stated (to my husband and I) that he would like for us to adopt him.

By his choice BF has seen the child a handful of times in 2.6 years and other people including me initiated that contact but he never contacted me on his own.  In the past I offered to pick BF up so that he could visit with child, take child to BF, Bf to live in my house etc.  BF never once took advantage of any of those opportunities and as a result no parent child relationship was established.  BF had court ordered visitation but again he did not exercise it.

There was phone contact between BF and I but only when I called him.  The last phone contact was 7 months ago and there has been no other contact.  It has been almost a year since he has seen the child.
CS order was established 5 months ago and he has failed to pay it.  He hasn't paid anything in the past 2.6 years.


FACTS:

Despite the opportunites I provided him he has not maintained meaningful contact with the child.

He has not contributed to any of the childs  financial, physical or emotional needs.

There is no parent child relationship with BF and child.

He has not maintained contact with me.

He has not attended all of the court hearings nor did he adhere to other request by the court.

The child has been out of the care and custody of both parents for more than 2 years.

Parent child relationship exist between child and us.  There are very strong emotional ties.

Sibling bond exist between child and my other children.

I've omitted many details but the present situation is, BM has finally consented to an adoption but BF has filed an objection.

Questions:

1)  There will be a court hearing in the matter of a contested adoption.    What should I expect at this hearing?

2)  The child does not have an attorney, should the courts appoint one and if they don't how will the courts view it if I hire one?

3)  Is an expert witness neccesary to establish how detrimental it could be to this child to be removed from the only family this child has ever known?

4)  Given the BF's history, does he really have a chance?

5)  Will the courts consider how this will affect my other children?

6)  Please add any comments or suggestions that you think will be helpful to me!

Thank you for taking the time to read my post and I look forward to hearing from you!

Tweety1  

:-)