question about abandonment

[sharptimes5]

Dear Socrateaser,

We (father, stepmother, child and sibs) live in Florida.  Biological mother lives in Virginia.  The State of Florida retains jurisdiction of the case.

My husband was given primary physical custody of their 8 yo daughter (then 6) in Sept 2002 due to her disregard for the Judge's Orders for contact and visitation.  Child support was set in May of 2003 with arrears dating to Sept 2002.  

Biological mother contacted the child sporadically for about 6 months after the custody transfer, then the contact with her stopped and switched to the step dad calling and writing.  All contact with biological mother and/or stepfather stopped in May 2003.

We do not have an address or a phone number for biological mother, only the address of a friend of hers and her mother in law's address, so we have been faithfully sending packets of schoolwork, pictures monthly and helping my stepdaughter to write to her mom at least once every 2 weeks.  We have received some of the mailings back from both addresses, but some does manage to get through somehow.

Our address and phone number are on record with the County Clerk as well as having been sent to biological mother's attorney and to the biomom herself.  We have told her to call collect, sent stamped preaddressed envelopes and prepaid phone cards to no avail.

Biological mother had contacted Child Support Enforcement in Florida due to the fact that her drivers license was revoked for nonpayment of support.  According to CSE, she stated that she would like to regain her privileges but they told her that she must start paying the support for that to happen.  Nothing has been paid, and a federal warrant has been sent to the Attorney General of the State of Florida under the Federal Deadbeat Parent law.


I hope this is enough info for you to answer our questions.

1.  What constitutes abandonment in the state of Florida?

2. Is this child considered to be "abandoned" due to lack of contact and support from her biological mother?

Thank you very much for your time.

[socrateaser]

>1.  What constitutes abandonment in the state of Florida?

I don't know, and at the moment, I don't have time to look up the statute. If someone else posts, it I will be happy to interpret it for you.

>
>2. Is this child considered to be "abandoned" due to lack of
>contact and support from her biological mother?

You've given me lots of facts, but I'm not certain I know what you wish to achieve. If you are seeking to terminate the mother's parental rights, you probably won't be able to achieve this unless someone else wants to step into her shoes, legally speaking (i.e., adoption).

If you receive an order terminating the mother's parental rights, then this will also terminate her duty to pay child support, although it will not affect any arrears already owed.

But, as I said, I don't know what you want to do, so I can't comment intelligently at the moment.