Terminating Parental Rights in Indiana?

[j_stone0204]

Okay. Um, where do I start? My ex lives in the state of Michigan, I live in Indiana. We have a six year old daughter together. He just plead guilty to posession of child pornography and is being sentenced on Aug. 15. I read somewhere that if one parent is convicted of a felony (which possession of child porn is a felony in Michigan, and he plead guilty to three counts), the other parent can terminate the parental rights of the one that is guilty.

Has anyone heard of this? My husband (I have been remarried for 2 years) wants to adopt my daughter, so that part wouldn't be a problem.

If anyone has had any experience with this, please let me know! Thanks!

[De-lovely]

No input really sorry mama.I live in Indiana and I just wanted to give you 's and say what a blessing for your dh to step up and do what he is doing.Awesome mama and good luck to you! Let us know how it goes!

[Katwoman]

In our State the have a legal referal program where you can call and get the numbers of three lawyers that will see you for a free half an hour consult. Do you have any programs like that in your state? Seems like a lawyer could answer that in a heart beat and then tell you how much the whole thing will cost in a very short period of time......... (If you've never heard of one, it's worth calling the bar association and asking about it.)

[Satori]

I found this in a 30 second yahoo search

http://www.kidsvoicein.org/Terminationf.html

looks like unless he had porn pic's of your kids thats not the way to go but i'm sure there are other ways.

[fire_in_july]

I don't know the specific answer to your question, but how long has it been since bio-dad has had contact with your daughter? Not sure on the laws of Indiana, but you might be able to terminate based upon parental abandonment if it has been awhile.

I had my son's bio-dad's rights terminated based upon abandonment. Abandonment in my state was considered no contact with the child AND no child support paid for one year or more.

DS was 2 1/2 when bio-dad's rights were terminated and had not seen him since he was 13 months old (once then). My son didn't even have any concept of who bio-dad was. Child support paid over the course of his life consisted of $50 once when he was about 3 months old. Best thing I ever did. DP adopted my son years ago and now he has a REAL father involved in his life.

Good luck!

[Satori]

fire,

Were you a single mom at the time or married? I'm a single mom and I go to court next week for our final TPR hearing for abandonment. We have the recommendation from the court investigator but I'm still worried!

[fire_in_july]

Originally Posted by Satori

fire,

Were you a single mom at the time or married? I'm a single mom and I go to court next week for our final TPR hearing for abandonment. We have the recommendation from the court investigator but I'm still worried!

I was single. I listed as my reasons:
1) abandonment
2) uncontrolled alcoholism of the bio-dad
3) my partner wanting to adopt DS at a future time

There were no problems at all. Went through without a hitch. Of course it helped that bio-dad was notified through proper channels of the court date but didn't bother to show up.

[Satori]

Originally Posted by fire_in_july

I was single. I listed as my reasons:
1) abandonment
2) uncontrolled alcoholism of the bio-dad
3) my partner wanting to adopt DS at a future time

There were no problems at all. Went through without a hitch. Of course it helped that bio-dad was notified through proper channels of the court date but didn't bother to show up.

May I ask what state you were in at the time? I'm in CA here. I was unable to serve dd's bio dad so I had to publish in the paper of his last known city.

[fire_in_july]

Originally Posted by Satori

May I ask what state you were in at the time? I'm in CA here. I was unable to serve dd's bio dad so I had to publish in the paper of his last known city.

I was in Iowa.

I also had to publish in the paper - but that is considered "proper channels" since the court could not successfully serve him at last known address.

HOWEVER, I did tell him on the phone about it - I made contact with him before the hearing and told him of the date and that I was doing it. He reamed me up and down for "being a b!tch" and "trying to take away his son" (the one he had never had anything to do with ) But he did not show up for court.

And yes, I told the court about this phone contact. It did not matter, as he had been notified through the proper channels to the best of the court's ability.

For 30 days after the termination, he had the right to challenge it. He did not. It was then permanent.

[bobandjess99]

Yes, you may. It should be fairly simple, but you will probably want a lawyer. Couple hundred bucks to make things a LOT simpler! My husband raised his now-ex-wife's kid, who was not his bio-kid. After a few years, they had the name changed to my husbands last name and after a couple more years, my husband legally adopted the boy, which involved terminating the parental rights of the bio-father. It was fairly easy, the bio-dad had NEVER seen the boy or paid $1 of support ever...and the boy was TEN when my husband adopted him. They had to put an ad in the paper, because they did not know where the bio-dad was or how to "serve" him with papers, and then they had to wait a certain period of time....then off to a happy ceremony with the judge ...if they had not already changed the lat name, it would have been done at the ceremony, but since they had, the judge said a few nice words, congratulated them, and signed the papers. Then, a new birth certificate was issued with my husbands name as the father. Simple. And yes, you do have grounds because of the conviction....and also potentially due to "abandonment", depending on how long it has been since your ex has seen your child. best of luck
jess

[Schuied]

New problem

I have a 9 yo son who wants nothing to do with me any longer. I haven't seen or spoken to him in months. I pay $100 a week in child support since he was 1 yo. It was a bad relationship with his mother. Since then she is re married and so am I. The child will not have anything to do with me or my wife. We have done nothing wrong to him ever! I do not know what happened. He is not the most emotional stable 9 yo. I feel that if I enforce my parental rights about visitation it will mess him up even more. He has a wonderful step father so I am not concerned there. I would like to give up my parental rights. Some of you may say I'm being silly. I believe that his mother will do it also. I just need to know where to start and if you think that would be grounds to terminate my rights? I live in Indiana. Any help would be appreciated.
Thank you

[GAmommy211]

I would definitely call a family lawyer that can give you advice. As I seen in the other posts they normally to let you have first consultation for free. I am not sure how they would go about that considering your ex's position with the child porn. But you could more than likely tell them you fear him using the kids in the future for this. If they can't take his rights away I would recomment definitely making it where he has to have supervised visitations with them.

[GAmommy211]

I just found this maybe it will help some

Statute: §§31-35-2-4.5; 31-35-3-4; 31-35-3-8
Grounds: Abandonment or extreme parental disinterest, abuse/neglect, felony conviction/incarceration, failure of reasonable efforts, sexual abuse, abuse/neglect or loss of rights of another child, child judged in need of services/dependent, child’s best interest, child in care 15 of 22 months (or less), felony assault of child or sibling, murder/manslaughter of sibling child, voluntary relinquishment.
Exceptions: A party must file motion to dismiss TPR petition, and court shall dismiss petition, if preponderance of evidence establishes: 1) child being cared for by a parent, stepparent, grandparent, sibling, aunt, uncle or relative who is child’s guardian; 2) case plan documents compelling reason why TPR is not in best interest of child; 3) early TPR provisions not applicable and a) services not provided and time period for completion of services has not expired, or b) such services not provided and such services are substantial and material

http://www.ncsconline.org/WC/Publica...teLinks.htm#KS

[John&Timmy'sMom]

No, but I sure wish that were true in VA! My ex was addicted to teen porn, never charged or anything though! It scares me to know my kids are there with him for any length of time... I pray your daughter will not have to be with him again and that he will get some help. It is utterly disgusting.

[mylilsugarbritches]

Originally Posted by Schuied

I have a 9 yo son who wants nothing to do with me any longer. I haven't seen or spoken to him in months. I pay $100 a week in child support since he was 1 yo. It was a bad relationship with his mother. Since then she is re married and so am I. The child will not have anything to do with me or my wife. We have done nothing wrong to him ever! I do not know what happened. He is not the most emotional stable 9 yo. I feel that if I enforce my parental rights about visitation it will mess him up even more. He has a wonderful step father so I am not concerned there. I would like to give up my parental rights. Some of you may say I'm being silly. I believe that his mother will do it also. I just need to know where to start and if you think that would be grounds to terminate my rights? I live in Indiana. Any help would be appreciated.
Thank you

I'm not sure what it is in other states, but I do know that in the state of Michigan, parental rights cannot be terminated unless there is another person to step into the roll (unless of course the state terminates of its own volition). Meaning as an example, I can't go out and terminate my ex's rights unless my DH is willing to step into the role of father. You might want to contact your child's mother, and see if her DH is willing to do this. You might not have any right to terminate at this point. If I were you, I'd try to see your child. My ex claims he's interested in my daughter, but never follows through on his words, and now at 13 she hates him for this. Could be your son wants nothing to do with you because you haven't pursued him, kwim? Not trying to flame you, just giving you another perspective.