Can I adopt my stepchild if the biological father lives in another country and we live in Wyoming?

Yes, a stepparent who lives in Wyoming can file a stepparent adoption petition in Wyoming District Court even if the child's biological father lives in another country. What matters is how his legal rights are addressed, and that depends on your family's facts.

Where you file. Adoption proceedings begin with a petition filed in District Court (Wyo. Stat. § 1-22-104(a)). Wyoming has 23 counties, and the District Court clerk in your county can tell you about local filing procedures and the current filing fee. A petition may be filed by either spouse if the other spouse is the child's parent (Wyo. Stat. § 1-22-104(b)).

Residency. Wyoming has no requirement that the father live here. The residency rule is about the adopting person: you must have lived in Wyoming for 60 days immediately before filing (Wyo. Stat. § 1-22-103).

The father's rights. This is the part that takes the most care when a parent lives abroad. Wyoming's rules on abandonment (Wyo. Stat. § 1-22-110) set no fixed number of months. Abandonment depends on the parent's overall conduct, so the court looks at the full picture of his involvement with your child. Wyoming does not handle termination of parental rights as a separate step in a stepparent adoption. It is part of the same adoption case.

Several points depend on your situation, and you should confirm them with the District Court clerk or an attorney:

• How he must be notified when he lives in another country, and what proof of notice the court expects.
• Whether he is willing to sign a consent, and how a consent signed abroad should be prepared.
• What to do if you don't know where he is, or if he objects. A contested case or an unknown address is best reviewed by an attorney.

Your child's consent. If your stepchild is 14 or older, the child's consent is part of the process (Wyo. Stat. § 1-22-109).

Home study. The home study is waived in Wyoming stepparent adoptions (Wyo. Stat. § 1-22-111(a)(ii)).

Timeline. Stepparent adoptions in Wyoming typically take 3-6 months. A case with a parent abroad may take longer, and the clerk can tell you what to expect locally.

After the adoption. Wyoming Vital Statistics Services is the agency that handles vital records, including a new birth certificate. Ask the clerk or the agency about their steps after your decree is entered.

How we help. StepParent Adoption 360 is a document preparation service, not a law firm. You answer questions online, and we prepare the complete court document package for your county. You file it yourself without an attorney. The cost is $349 for the first child and $99 for each additional child. Court-ready documents are delivered within 24-48 hours after you finish the questions, and we offer a 100% court acceptance guarantee. We have helped 191 Wyoming families, and more than 34,000 families nationally since 2001.