Step parent adoption

[Mummygettingthroughit201]

My partner of 6 years due to marry next year wants to adopt my son. They have brought him up as their own since they were 5 months old and he is Daddy, never known as anything else. Bio dad walked out when I was pregnant and hasn’t been interested since. Not on the birth certificate. Son is now nearly 6 years old.

adoption pack says I needed to of contacted birth parent of adoption, but I have literally no
Contact details and he’s blocked me on everything.

what do you even do in this situation? Has anyone any experience of the process?

I would think its better to just call the agency and discuss it.
If he's not on the birth certificate than as far as I understand it he has no parental responsibility to give up. But best to check that out

In the UK step parent adoption can be tricky, the family court has to be satisfied that it's appropriate to permanently sever the relationship between the birth family and the child. So they need to know not just that there is no relationship with your child's dad, but also that there is no relationship with his wider family either, or any prospect of one in future. So for example adoption would be less likely to be approved if your child regularly saw his paternal grandparents, regardless of his father being absent from his life. Or of the court felt there was any realistic prospect of a future relationship with his father, regardless of whether there is one now.

I say all this to give you the context for what you are being asked to do. It strengthens your case if you can evidence that a) your son's father supports the adoption (this is the ideal) or b) that you have made every attempt to contact him or his family and he has not responded.

Ultimately the assessment will be made by a social worker prior to the family court making a decision, so you should get an opportunity to explain all this, but you can best prepare by making a record of the various ways you have tried (and failed) to contact him, and also, if it will not put you in danger, ways you have tried to contact members of his family too, so there is evidence of non engagement. But be warned the social worker may well try to make contact themselves to seek his views even if you can't.

Have you considered going for PR for your partner rather than adoption? This tends to be much more straightforward as it does not involve removing the birth father's rights and is frankly less of a palaver.