Can my sons grandfather adopt him?: My sons father passed away recently. His grandfather has offered to adopt him. He wants to adopt him because he wants him to receive a portion of his retirement. I live in texas. He lives in California.
Christine’s answer: The answer to your question is: probably. This could be more challenging (but not necessarily impossible) if he is married. Plus you may want to hire an adoption attorney to first confirm that adoption will give your son the benefits that his grandfather wants, and whether there are other ways to give those benefits other than adoption. And then you may want to do an analysis with an adoption attorney of whether the potential down-side to letting the paternal grandfather adopt and co-parent with you is worth it. But it might be possible. I would suggest that if you don't talk to me, you talk to another adoption specialist, though! It's complicated.
Can I share legal guardianship of my child with my father-in-law?: My husband is unable to care for our child due to health concerns, and so his father and I are raising the child. His father is a retired military veteran with benefits that would pass on to his legal children (not grandchildren, unless adopted by him), so I would like to know if my father-in-law can adopt my child with me. I would like to remain the child's legal parent, though, and I am still married.
Christine’s answer: Maybe, but it would be a long-shot. Three-parent adoption is not prohibited by statute in Texas, although exceedingly rare. In certain circumstances (if you are filing the petition) then your spouse must be on the petition, but that does not mean the final order must include him as a 4th parent. I would strongly suggest that you hire an adoption fellow of ///A, the academy of adoption and assisted reproduction attorneys. Ellen Yarrell is in Houston, and if anyone could get this through, she could. It is not a sure thing, but might just be possible with a sympathetic, open-minded judge. Especially if all parties are agreed.
My unborn babies father is a RSO and wants custody even though I want to give the baby up for adoption, what can I do?: I live in Texas and the father of my baby is in ND. I cannot mentally, physically or financially care for a child and want to let my father and step mother adopt. The father wants custody even though he is extremely unstable. How can I go about giving the baby up for adoption without having to fight forever in court? His girlfriend recently lost her son to CPS due to drug use, they have no stable place to live, he jumps from job to job, fails to register his SO status and so on.
Christine’s answer: I would suggest you find a local adoption agency and talk to them about all of this. I like (and work with the most so I know them) Adoption Choices of Texas, but there are plenty of great options with kind social workers and attorneys to guide you through this. The agency will very likely be able to help ensure the termination of the father's parental rights without you having to worry about all of the details and pay for any of it. Best of luck, and feel free to reach out to me or another adoption attorney if you want your own lawyer to keep an eye on the agency and advise you along the way. (The adoptive parents usually pay for this.)