question on adoptions

[starrnjustin]

What is the name of your state? Indiana

I will be getting married and my fiance wants to adopt my son. The biological father has not seen him since he was 4 months old. He is now 1 1/2 years old. My fiance has been his "father" sinceshe was 1 year old. Noone has legal custody of my son; we have not gone to court for anything.

Also, if I take my son to his paternal grandparents, can the biological father take the law over there and pick up my son and then not return him to me?

What does he have to do to start the adoption process? Is there a certain time frame they have to wait after we get married or can it be started right away?

[LdiJ]

Originally Posted by starrnjustin

What is the name of your state? Indiana

I will be getting married and my fiance wants to adopt my son. The biological father has not seen him since he was 4 months old. He is now 1 1/2 years old. My fiance has been his "father" sinceshe was 1 year old. Noone has legal custody of my son; we have not gone to court for anything.

Also, if I take my son to his paternal grandparents, can the biological father take the law over there and pick up my son and then not return him to me?

What does he have to do to start the adoption process? Is there a certain time frame they have to wait after we get married or can it be started right away?

You are wrong that no one has legal custody of your son. In Indiana an unwed mother has sole legal and physical custody until a judge says otherwise.

Technically no, if you let the paternal grandparents have a visit dad shouldn't be able to "snatch" the child. Unfortunately the police in Indiana are not uniform at all about how they handle these matters. They definitely wouldn't help dad take the child if dad doesn't have a court order proving he has custody.....but if the grandparents allow dad to take the child the police might not help you get the child back...they might tell you that its a "civil matter" and that they won't get involved.

In regards to the adoption see my response here....I believe that IN and OH have similar laws on that.

[url]http://forum.freeadvice.com/showthread.php?t=253361[/url]

[starrnjustin]

Originally Posted by LdiJ

You are wrong that no one has legal custody of your son. In Indiana an unwed mother has sole legal and physical custody until a judge says otherwise.

Technically no, if you let the paternal grandparents have a visit dad shouldn't be able to "snatch" the child. Unfortunately the police in Indiana are not uniform at all about how they handle these matters. They definitely wouldn't help dad take the child if dad doesn't have a court order proving he has custody.....but if the grandparents allow dad to take the child the police might not help you get the child back...they might tell you that its a "civil matter" and that they won't get involved.

In regards to the adoption see my response here....I believe that IN and OH have similar laws on that.

[url]http://forum.freeadvice.com/showthread.php?t=253361[/url]

Thanks LdiJ for your response.

The biological parents are on my side; so they won't hand him over to their son. We just didn't know what to do if he shows up with the law and wants to "snatch" the boy. I got a phone call from him the other day (after not hearing from him over a year) threatening to do this for I wouldn't let him see his son this weekend. My son doesn't know him; he thinks of my fiance as his "dad".

Also, thanks for the advice on adoptions; I will be looking into that very soon.

[LdiJ]

Originally Posted by starrnjustin

Thanks LdiJ for your response.

The biological parents are on my side; so they won't hand him over to their son. We just didn't know what to do if he shows up with the law and wants to "snatch" the boy. I got a phone call from him the other day (after not hearing from him over a year) threatening to do this for I wouldn't let him see his son this weekend. My son doesn't know him; he thinks of my fiance as his "dad".

Also, thanks for the advice on adoptions; I will be looking into that very soon.

To reiterate...you have sole legal and physical custody unless/until a judge says otherwise. The police will not help him take the child from his parents.