i need advice me and my wife have been together for 4 years married 1 of those 4 our 8 year old daughter my step daughter is my world my wife has lupis and someday it will end her life she has been having troubles lately so we want to make sure our daughters biological dad can not get her he is a abusive meth addict and alcoholic with many documented suicide attemps he is on ssd1 thats the only reason my wife gets child support is cause the goverment takes it right away if left to him he would never pay a dime he has not seen or talked to her in 3 years though our contact info has not changed in all that time he makes no effort what can we do we do not have alot of money he lives in eastern wa we live in western wa please anyone help thanks my email is briankgateley at yahoo thank you again

Unless you formally adopt her, she'll remain a legal stranger to you. If you can convince the court that the father has either abandoned the child or poses a threat or endangerment to her, then the court can terminate his rights and grant the adoption in one combined proceeding. Start by checking the sections of your local court's website that deal with probate (that's the type of court that would oversee such a case) and consult with an experienced family law attorney. Termination/adoption MUST be done right, else the adoption can later be challenged, so it's really not a do-it-yourself project.

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While pointers can be helpful, ultimately the number one lesson in any legal action is: don't take legal advice from books, family, friends, co-workers, police officers, grocery clerks, web sites, or people on legal message boards. The only person who can give YOU legal advice is YOUR attorney.

http://www.aardvarc.org

I agree with aardvarc on this one. Have you browsed through the information in LawInfo's Free Legal Resource Center to learn more about your issue yet? See: http://www.lawinfo.com/consumer.html and http://resources.lawinfo.com/en/index.html. You can certainly try to speak to a lawyer to determine what legal options may be available. In the meantime, you may be able to learn more on your own. Search the "Free Legal Resources" tab, or browse the Consumer Resources. Good luck.