Encyclopedia of Children's Health

Medigalone · Joined: 19 Sep 2006 Posts: 1

Can anyone help me? Little history into what I am trying to do. My daughter is almost 10 years old. She has not had a relationship with her biological father in 8 years. He abdandoned both of us just after her 2nd birthday. She wants to change her last name to my maiden name, as do I, but the problem is that we do not know where he is and my understanding is that I have to have his consent to change her name. I never went back to my maiden name because I did not want her to feel bad going to school with a different last name than mine. So, anyway, I would like to have our last names changed, is there anyone that can offer some advice in this regard? Thank you.

dayzienaomi · Joined: 18 Nov 2007 Posts: 2

Depending on the state in which you live if a biological father does not have any contact with a child for a certain amount of months or years it is fairly easy to terminate all parental rights.My husband recently adopted my son because his biological father hadn't seen him or paid child support for over 5 years.