QUESTION
Can my boyfriend be put as the father of my 1 year old even though he's not the biological father?
Asked on Nov 27th, 2015 on Child Custody - Washington
More details to this question:
There is no father named on my son's birth certificate. His biological father is not involved in his life. My boyfriend is considering adopting my son. The only time my son's biological father comes around is when he wants to look good for a new girlfriend. He has not provided any support and my son doesn't know who he is. My boyfriend has been in my son's life since my son was only 2 months old. My son's biological father has had issues with abusing prescription pills and has been arrested for hitting me. He has threatened to try to get custody of my son repeatedly, but then doesn't contact us for a few months. My boyfriend is thinking about adopting my son because he's the one my son knows as his daddy and I think it's a good idea because he's the only father my son has known and I wouldn't have to worry about the biological father trying to interfere and cause strife in our family. Is my boyfriend able to adopt my son?
2 ANSWERS
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You can't just put the boyfriend on the birth certificate. Whether or not he can adopt your son would be a question of the length and stability of the relationship etc. Every adoption has to have a home study and the court's approval depends on that home study. If it recommends adoption you can then ask the court to terminate the father's rights. If you had done what you should, you would have filed a parentage action with the court as soon as this child was born. That would have imposed child support on the father and provided for a parenting plan which allocates time with the child for each parent (or not if there are reasons not to provide time) and this situation would look quite different. It is not too late to do so now. As to the boyfriend, you don't say if you're living together. If he is so close to the child why are you not married. A boyfriend relationship is usually too unstable to warrant adoption. If both of you are serious, then get married and establish a stable home. Once there is some history with that, the chances of an adoption are much better.
Answered on Dec 04th, 2015 at 5:28 PM
Dave Hawkins
No. Any statement made on a birth certificate is made under penalty of perjury. If you willfully lie, you could be charged with perjury a crime.
Answered on Dec 04th, 2015 at 3:44 AM