negligent child support/ adoption

I am a single mother in Montana. My young daughter's father was requested in a court order to pay child support in a joint legal custody arrangement. He has seen her once in her two years of life and has not paid any support in over one year, and only then when his wages were garnished by a state agency. He obviously is not interested in her at all since he has not contacted us for over year and a half. We were never married, and I would now like to marry my fiance of over two years. This man would like to adopt my daughter, to whom he has been a father since her birth. In order to adopt, the biological father must rescind his rights to my daughter. I have heard that after a certain amount of time without contact or support we can go about getting his rights removed. If this is true, how long is the wait and what needs to be done legally to insure that an adoption would not be revoked later if the biological father were to reappear? I should also add that I have no idea where the biological father is. Neither does his family or any of the friends he was close to around here. He has, for all practical purposes, disappeared.

There are state rules regarding abandonment... the time limits are different... and I believe that there are certain attempts to contact the father that need to be made. If you terminate his rights then you will lose your right to collect support as well.

i am going through something similar. yes, if his rights are taken away there will be no way to collect child support in the future. however, since there is a court order child support agreement you can sue him for back child support. have you looked on the internet for your ex? that is how i found mine. he is in the army and child support enforcement could not find him. i did. their are acencies on the net that will locate people for a fee (around 40.00 i think) my son is nine and has never seen or gotten anything from his father. my new husband would like to adopt him (he's the only father my son has known as well) in virginia i believe the time limit is two years (not sure) but the way it works here is that you can file a petition in the courts to have the biological father's rights terminated, he will get notice of the action. if he wants to fight he will show up, if not (especially after not seeing his child for more than two years) it will be done and your new husband can adopt your child. (in which case his name could be put on the child's birth certificate as the "real" father)if he is located, served with the notice of going to court, and doesn't show up it would be legal and could not be reversed later on. (he would be served certified mail to prove he received the notice) if you were ever using medicaid or wic while you were pregnant or after the baby was born you could notify them that the father is out their and they would go back a get the money they spent on you and your child from him. even if his rights are terminated i would still get the back child support he owes you child. i can't do that because there was never a court ordered child support agreement. you would need to talk to a lawyer in your state, it money is a factor check to see if your area has a legal aid type agency (most do)/
good luck