adoption situation in louisiana?

Not happening.

For a child to be free and clear for adoption her biological father would need to give consent or the state would need to terminate his rights. Right now, the state has no basis to terminate his rights.

Child custody, visitation and child support are all separate items, one has nothing to do with the other. Being behind in child support won't take away his visitation and it's not enough for the state to terminate his rights.

Child support is for the basic needs of a child, it's for food, clothing, shelter, extra activities (sports, scouts, dance, etc) and medical care. It's not payment for visits and it's not payment to retain parental rights.

It seems other than the child support he is active in her life and he needs to be. She needs her dad regardless of the new daddy in the picture and regardless of what anyone thinks of him.

If it would be okay to just take his child from him because mom has a new man, then it would be okay to take the child away from mom for the same reason.

Step-dad can love her as his own as her step-dad. I have a child from my first marriage and I'm remarried, my husband loves her as his own and never wanted to remove her dad from her life, neither did I.

Mom figured out how to make a baby with this man, she needs to figure out how to co-parent with him regardless of her relationship or non relationship with him and regardless of what she thinks of him. 2 weeks in the summer is total bull$hit, that's not enough time with her dad to have a good bond with him. He should have her for most of the summer. My ex was in the military for years, he was stationed in Texas and we lived in Michigan (where he and I are both from) and given the distance, I knew that wasn't enough time for either of them. When his orders allowed him to be home the whole summer, he had her the whole summer, he also had her for her extended breaks from school for Christmas and Easter.

Taking a child from either of their parents is detrimental to their well being.

He obviously loves his daughter, and has her the two weeks. He does not have to pay to see his child. That child support is between him and his ex.

It's wrong to cut the dad out of his child's life because mom doesn't like him. The step dad can still be a dad without adopting the child.

If he doesn't voluntarily sign, then there is no adoption. They cannot just take his child away from him, sorry.

It's really lovely that her future step-dad cares so much, but her dad would have to freely sign his rights over. Pressuring him if he doesn't want to will hurt Suzy in the long run. Embrace the fact that she has so much extra love in her life. I'm sorry I can't tell you what you want to hear.

you cant make him sign over the parental rights but surely you can make him pay support, go after that

At least approach t h e dad. The big advantage to him would be not having to pay anymore support.

Love the speculation: "doesn't thing." More better to send the waiver and voluntary TPR paperwork to the bio dad to thing about. Either he signs it or he doesn't, then no speculative thinging is necessary. TPR can also occur involuntarily, if you read the code and thing about it.

Dad has to sign off period. The money and visitation are not linked! Mom, however, can offer to dismiss the past child support if he will sign off custody. Another thing, the child has to agree to be adopted!

If the biological father doesn't agree for his child to be adopted by someone else, there IS no "adoption situation". Has anyone bothered to ask him how he feels about it?

If the mom's partner is a woman, then you've spelled it correctly: fiancée. But if it's a man, then it's spelled with one 'e' at the end: fiancé. If the partner is female, the laws may be different, which is why I mention this.

They'll need to be married first, not just engaged.

I believe you'll need a home study. It's usually easier in a step-parent adoption. The court may waive it.

The dad's rights have to be terminated. One reason could be not paying child support, but it may not be enough, especially as the dad still wants to see her. If he fights this, expect your court costs to go up.

You can go to a library and get the forms. You can also get a free consultation with a local attorney before you go ahead.

Now, the advice I would give her is this: think very, very carefully before you do this. Your child may resent you for "taking away" her father. If you do an adoption, your husband could, in case of a divorce, fight you for custody and win, even though he's the step-parent. It might be best to wait a couple of years and see how the marriage works out. Please consider this carefully.