Terminating parental rights

[Military mom]

I am a mother of 3 children and am currently in the military. My childrens father hasn't seen them in over 6 years, which is when I divorced him, except for one time when I contacted his mother to let him know that she was in the hospital. He spent 10 minutes with her and then left. He has never paid any child support or tried to contact me in any way to try to see his children. I have no idea where he is currently other than when he happens to get arrested. My children no longer ask about him or try to see him. I do have contact with his family and they see my children as often as they, and we can. Next year my children and I will be stationed in Europe and for me to take them there, I have to have him sign papers saying it's ok. I currently reside in Kansas but my home of record is Florida and where my children currently are with my parents due to the fact that I am currently deployed in Iraq. How do I go about getting his rights permanently taken from him? His family has stated that he is currently homeless, jobless, on drugs, and has been in and out of jail several times in the past 6 years. I have no way of proving this since I have no way of contacting him.

Thank you for any assistance

[Katwoman]

You should call your JAG office.  A lawyer would be able to tell you how to handle this.  I know when I was adopted - which I realize is different than what you want to do - my Mom didn't know where my Dad was so she just had to put ads in the papers of the cities he was most likely in.  When he didn't answer the ads, the judicial system could roll forward with the termination and adoption.  A lawyer is your best bet here.  Whatever you do, it will take time, you need to get going ASAP.

[FiveLittleMonkeys]

JAG will be able to advise you, but they will not be able to represent you.  You will need to get a civilian attorney - and you can do this in Kansas, once you get back from Iraq, it doesn't have to be in your HOR - petition the court for termination (under KSA 1996 Supp 38-1502 and 38-1541 establish that a parent is in fact an "interested party." Kansas courts have held that one parent can file a petition to terminate the rights of the other parent under the CINC statutes).  Once you petition the court, a date for a hearing will be set.  You will have to advertise in the paper of his last known whereabouts that this hearing will be taking place and also try to have him served at his last known address - in other words, try to give him proper notice of this hearing so he can come.  

Chances are, he won't see it or be able to be served.  He won't show up, his rights will be terminated, and you'll be good to go.

I would spend the remaining time you have in Iraq collecting hard data to prove his drug use, jail time, etc.  You should be able to get at least some information about the jail time - dates he was in jail, what he was charged with, what his sentence was - from public records.

Good luck!