Q: Scott,
Do you know the laws regarding Colorado step parent adoptions?
I am a 26-year-old single mother of a six-year-old little boy. I have been
dating an amazing guy for the last year, and recently we became engaged.
He is great with my son, and they absolutely adore each other. He wants to
adopt my son; we just aren’t sure how to go about it.
I have been given a lot of differing information.
My son’s biological “father” — and I use the term very, very, very loosely — has never been a part of my son’s life, has
never seen him, called him, or given him anything. His name is also not on
any records including the birth certificate. I don’t even know where to
find him even if I wanted to.
If you could give me any information, or a
good source for information to help us become a family, we would really
appreciate it.
Thank you.
SCOTT: Step parent adoptions can be pretty easy in Colorado.
I’m not an attorney, but
usually, you first have to get consent from the “absent” parent. Since you
don’t know where he is, you’ll probably need to go to court to get his
parental rights terminated if you haven’t already done so.
It won’t be that
difficult in your case, since he usually only has to be absent from the
child’s life for at least a year. Once you show that he doesn’t meet the
legal definition of a father, the court will terminate his rights and you
can proceed without his consent.
Hire a qualified attorney who will file all the paperwork on your behalf. You can do it yourself, but the attorney route is so much easier. Then a
date will be set and you’ll appear at a hearing, and another date will be set
for a finalization hearing when the adoption certificates will be issued.
Lastly, you should apply to amend your child’s birth certificate to
reflect his new adoptive father’s name.
I hope this helps. Congratulations
and good luck!