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what constitutes an "unfit" parent?

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carofl93

Member
What is the name of your state? Florida

I'll try to make this long story short. I am a custodial stepmother. Hubby and I (and stepdaughter) have been discussing the possiblity of my adopting my 7 year old stepdaughter. Her mother has abandoned her...ie no contact since April, no child support paid, and has moved at least once that we know of, but we have no address. How would we go about starting the adoption process? And would her mother's abandonment constitute her being an "unfit parent"? We have no clue about where her bio mom is, and neither does the state of FL. Things are fine as they are right now, but SD is wanting to call me Mom and the divorce decree states that we can't allow that...it's hard to tell her that she can't do that when I have been the "mother figure" for 2 years now.
 


HomeGuru

Senior Member
carofl93 said:
What is the name of your state? Florida

I'll try to make this long story short. I am a custodial stepmother. Hubby and I (and stepdaughter) have been discussing the possiblity of my adopting my 7 year old stepdaughter. Her mother has abandoned her...ie no contact since April, no child support paid, and has moved at least once that we know of, but we have no address. How would we go about starting the adoption process? And would her mother's abandonment constitute her being an "unfit parent"? We have no clue about where her bio mom is, and neither does the state of FL. Things are fine as they are right now, but SD is wanting to call me Mom and the divorce decree states that we can't allow that...it's hard to tell her that she can't do that when I have been the "mother figure" for 2 years now.
**A: the divorce decree specifically states that she can't call you Mom? That's interesting. I have never seen such a thing. Were you around at the time of the divorce?
 

carofl93

Member
The divorce decree states that no one other than the biological father or mother can be called "Mother" or "Father" and to me that means "Mom or Dad"... maybe I read too much into that. I was around during the finalization of the divorce. I'll dig around in our legal papers here at the house and see if I can find that set of docs...it is a strange one, isn't it.
 

HomeGuru

Senior Member
carofl93 said:
The divorce decree states that no one other than the biological father or mother can be called "Mother" or "Father" and to me that means "Mom or Dad"... maybe I read too much into that. I was around during the finalization of the divorce. I'll dig around in our legal papers here at the house and see if I can find that set of docs...it is a strange one, isn't it.
**A: please post word for word exactly what the decree states on this issue.
 

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