Do I need an attorney? Husband adopt daughter

Im in Marietta, Georgia and my husband wants to adopt my 5 yr old daughter. He has been daddy to her since she was a yr old. My ex is nowhere to be found and even child support enforcement can't find him.I know I have to do a publication first. My question is do I need an attorney to do the publication and adoption or can I file everything myself? Reason being is we don't have alot of money for attorney's fees and legal aid said they don't handle that.I would appriciate any help you can give me.

I am in the exact same situation. My daughter is 4, and my husband has raised her since infancy. We now reside in FL. Her biological father still resides in WV. Child support enforcement knows no more than I. I have downloaded some helpful tips on processing the step parent adoption ourselves. My brother will soon be returning to the area of where my ex is; he intends to find him and ask him to sign a consent and waiver form. My only problem is FL has this paticular form, But WV does not. We are trying so hard to do all the leg work ourselves to save $$$. I am not certain I can post the web site I used, but I was able to obtain copies of all the forms and steps I would need to proceed with for" uncontested stepparent adoption w/ consents or non-custodial parent missing (whereabouts unknown after conducting a diligent search)." GOOD LUCK Thoughts and Prayers will be with your family.

Well, I certainly wish you the best of luck and hopes this help. I am not sure if this will work in GA but I live in Florida and I was able to go to the courthouse and get a step-parent adoption packet from the Family Services division. It cost me like $35, but it had a consent waiver and also a notice of publication you could do yourself that you send to the newspaper. Then it cost $120. for the filing but that is better than the $750 + it was going to cost for me to get an attorney. So try your local family services division in the courthouse where you live. Good luck to you!