What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? NY
Hey everyone! Need a little advice here. I'm interested in adopting my 9 year old step son. To give a brief history I have been raising him since he was 3 and a 1/2. His biological mother left him with his father when he was 15 months old and never looked back. For the past 5 and a half years his father and I have been raising him with no involvement from his biological mother. I have grown very close to him and we have a very special bond. I love him like he was my own. We have a wonderful, happy home that includes him and his two brothers. I'd really love to adopt him and make it official but I'm worried that if we start the process this could open a can of worms. I was told that even though my husband has sole physical and legal custody of his son she would still have to be notified. What would be the chances of her actually being able to stop it? Would she be able to go ahead and file for visitation after almost 8 years do no contact? From what I know about her she is bipolar and apparently was giving my son medications when he was only an infant to make him sleep (ambien specifically). There was no physical proof of it so no action was taken against her but he does suffer from behavioral and learning issues (don't really want to get into what) that I think could be a side effect from this. To top it off she has also given away two more children after him. Needless to say she is not someone I want around him. My number one worry is that if something bad ever happened to my husband what would that mean for him. Would she get custody? To avoid that ever being a possibility we want to have her taken completely out of the equation. Talking to a lawyer is going to be my next step but since tomorrow is Saturday I figured I'd ask here before I went crazy from thinking to much lol. Thanks!
Hey everyone! Need a little advice here. I'm interested in adopting my 9 year old step son. To give a brief history I have been raising him since he was 3 and a 1/2. His biological mother left him with his father when he was 15 months old and never looked back. For the past 5 and a half years his father and I have been raising him with no involvement from his biological mother. I have grown very close to him and we have a very special bond. I love him like he was my own. We have a wonderful, happy home that includes him and his two brothers. I'd really love to adopt him and make it official but I'm worried that if we start the process this could open a can of worms. I was told that even though my husband has sole physical and legal custody of his son she would still have to be notified. What would be the chances of her actually being able to stop it? Would she be able to go ahead and file for visitation after almost 8 years do no contact? From what I know about her she is bipolar and apparently was giving my son medications when he was only an infant to make him sleep (ambien specifically). There was no physical proof of it so no action was taken against her but he does suffer from behavioral and learning issues (don't really want to get into what) that I think could be a side effect from this. To top it off she has also given away two more children after him. Needless to say she is not someone I want around him. My number one worry is that if something bad ever happened to my husband what would that mean for him. Would she get custody? To avoid that ever being a possibility we want to have her taken completely out of the equation. Talking to a lawyer is going to be my next step but since tomorrow is Saturday I figured I'd ask here before I went crazy from thinking to much lol. Thanks!