What if a biological father is unknown or missing in a Texas adoption?

You can still adopt. Texas has a specific procedure for an alleged father who never established paternity, and separate grounds for a legal father who has disappeared, so an unknown or missing father doesn't stop a stepparent adoption. In our experience, about 80% of the stepparent adoptions we've completed went forward without the other biological parent's consent. The first step is working out which situation you're in.

Which situation is yours?

• Never a legal father: no marriage to the mother, no acknowledgment of paternity, no court order. He's an "alleged father."
• Legal father, whereabouts unknown: paternity was established, but you don't know where he is now.
• Identity unknown: you genuinely don't know who he is.

The mother's marriage history, any acknowledgment or court order on paternity, and custody orders tell you which situation applies.

The alleged-father procedure

Family Code section 161.002 lays out how an alleged father's rights are terminated. It turns on whether he responds after citation, the child's age, and whether he registered with the paternity registry; in certain circumstances no personal service or publication is needed at all.

When he is a legal father

Section 161.001 lists the termination grounds for a legal parent, including leaving the child with another person without adequate support and staying away for at least six months, or failing to support the child according to his ability for one year ending within six months of filing. The court looks for clear and convincing evidence of a ground and that ending his rights is in the child's best interest; describe the stable home the child has with you. If you can't locate him, a documented search followed by notice by publication is the routine step.

What to prepare

• Birth certificate and any parentage or custody orders.
• His name, prior addresses and your documented search.
• A paternity registry search certificate when required.
• The contact and support history.

If he appears and actively contests the adoption, that's the time to talk with a local Texas attorney.

Read what a missing birth-certificate name means, the questionnaire's legal-ground choices, and Texas's guide.