How do I adopt my stepchild if the biological mother won't sign in Wyoming?

In Wyoming, you can still ask the District Court to approve a stepparent adoption when the biological mother won't sign, but the outcome depends on her actual conduct toward your stepchild, so what you can show about her involvement matters. The adoption is filed in the District Court in your county.

How abandonment fits in. Wyoming's abandonment provision, Wyo. Stat. § 1-22-110, is the part of the law that speaks to a parent who has stepped away from a child. Wyoming sets no fixed number of months for abandonment. The court looks at the parent's overall conduct. A single missed birthday or one long gap doesn't settle the question either way. The court considers the whole picture: contact, support, and involvement in the child's life.

If she is still involved but refuses. Her level of involvement matters, and the answer turns on the specific facts. If she is actively in your stepchild's life, expect the case to be harder and possibly contested. For that situation, talk to a Wyoming family law attorney or the District Court clerk in your county about how the court is likely to handle it.

Termination is not a separate case. Wyoming does not treat termination of parental rights as a separate step from the adoption, so the question of her rights is addressed within the adoption proceeding itself.

Other Wyoming requirements that still apply:

• Residency: you must have lived in Wyoming for 60 days immediately before filing (Wyo. Stat. § 1-22-103).
• Child's consent: the age is 14 (Wyo. Stat. § 1-22-109). If your stepchild is 14 or older, their own consent is part of the picture.
• Home study: the investigation requirement is waived in a stepparent adoption (Wyo. Stat. § 1-22-111(a)(ii)).
• Timeline: stepparent adoptions in Wyoming typically take about 3-6 months. A contested case can take longer.

What to do next:

• Gather what you can about the mother's contact and support history: messages, dates of visits, and any records of payments or the lack of them.
• Ask the District Court clerk in your county about the current filing fee and how service on a non-consenting parent is handled locally. The clerk can confirm both.
• If she has said she will fight the adoption, or you don't know where she is, speak with an attorney about that specific issue before filing.

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. Court-ready documents are delivered within 24-48 hours after you finish the questions, and you file them yourself without an attorney. The price is $349 for the first child and $99 for each additional child, with a 100% court acceptance guarantee. We have helped 191 Wyoming families and more than 34,000 families nationally since 2001.