Passport for a child when father is nowhere to be found

[Vianky]

3 weeks ago we put in for our passports. Me and my hubs got our back already.

 

Now my oldest son, His father has not been in the picture since he was around 6 months. My son is now 11. Never tried to have contact with him and even if I wanted to get hold of him I do not know where he would be now.

 

On his birth certificate his biological father is named as father. We have never gone to court to get anything legal for custody or what not because it has never really been a problem. Like I said he has been out of the picture for more then 10 years. We have also never asked for child support or anything.

 

Like 3 years ago we gave my son our last name. He wanted to have his fathers last name. The only father he knows. To have the name change you have to show proof that you have looked for the father to get permission and we did. They gave us the name change with no problem.

 

Now when applying for the passport we had no bio father to sign and had to fill out the Form DS-3053 and the "STATEMENT OF SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES" There we explained everything that I just told you had it notarized and sent it off.

 

Today I received a letter asking for my marriage certificate as proof of my name change for my son's passport.

 

So I went ahead and sent that out to.

 

Have any of you had an experience with a child that does not have Bio father in the picture but do not have court order for sole custody?

 

What was your experience like and what should I expect?

[Cre]

I think that if you explain that you cannot get in contact with the father you may be able to get the passport but if you cannot show that you have sole custody even with the passport there may be issues because the actual fathert is still listed on the birth certificate. Customs may or may not ask for a notarized statement from the father giving his permission for you to travel out of the country with the child. If you do not have sole custody I would contact a family law attorney. I dealt with this same situation. Luckily since my child is older I did not have to get her fathers permission to get her passport so she has it but I still could not get the father to sign a consent form. In the end I decided not to take my daughter because I had no way of knowing if customs and border patrol would detain us once we arrived at the pier. I could not afford a lawyer and it would have been a long drawn out process for me to try and obtain sole custody prior to our cruise date. If you can contact your attorney and go from there.

[firsttimers08]

Hello,

I have had the same situation. My DH is there father he has raised them ther bio father is now where to be found. The lady at the passport office told me good luck with trying to get one without his signed permisson. But i am going to court on Monday to get an exception. Let me know what happens

[Vianky]

I think that if you explain that you cannot get in contact with the father you may be able to get the passport but if you cannot show that you have sole custody even with the passport there may be issues because the actual fathert is still listed on the birth certificate. Customs may or may not ask for a notarized statement from the father giving his permission for you to travel out of the country with the child. If you do not have sole custody I would contact a family law attorney. I dealt with this same situation. Luckily since my child is older I did not have to get her fathers permission to get her passport so she has it but I still could not get the father to sign a consent form. In the end I decided not to take my daughter because I had no way of knowing if customs and border patrol would detain us once we arrived at the pier. I could not afford a lawyer and it would have been a long drawn out process for me to try and obtain sole custody prior to our cruise date. If you can contact your attorney and go from there.

 

Well, if I have a passport the birth certificate would not be needed. Like I said, he now has my and my husbands last name and this is how it would appear on the passport. They would have no reason to ask for a letter.

 

So, if I get the passport that is all I really need. having a letter from the Bio dad does not worry me since all 3 of us have the same last name and that will show on the passport. They would really have no reason to question.

 

I have done everything I had to do for the passport. gave all the papers, birth certificate, legal name change docs and the letter I had to make and have it notarized since the father was out of the picture.

 

That's all I can do. I just hate this wait and not knowing what will happen. When we get back we will start the adoption. I never thought really that it was that big of a deal. Never had a problem but now I think we are just going to get the ball rolling. This is my only option since we leave in 3 months. Courts would take much longer then that so lets see.

[Vianky]

Hello,

I have had the same situation. My DH is there father he has raised them ther bio father is now where to be found. The lady at the passport office told me good luck with trying to get one without his signed permisson. But i am going to court on Monday to get an exception. Let me know what happens

 

 

Well see the lady at the passport office told me it should not be a problem. But then again she is just the post office lady so who knows. So far they did ask for one more paper and I sent that out today. They wanted my marriage certificate since my name on his birth certificate was my maiden name. Thats all they asked for and did not metion anything about the Bio father so far so it gives me a bit of hope. We shall see

[Cre]

Once you get the passport everything should be fine because since you all have the same name they'll just assume that the child is your husband's child. I don't see why they wouldn't issue the passport. I think it will all work out. I hope you all have a great trip.

[MamaParrotHead]

I almost wonder if the passport office assumes that your husband adopted your son bc of the name change? I don't see why this shouldn't work out. Please update, I'm curious to see how this pans out.

[mykidsrock76]

I went through this 2 years ago with DD. I sent the copy of my marriage certificate showing my new name (DD has my maiden name). Once they got that we received her passport with no problems. Her father is not involved. We did not need anything from him for her passort. Now, my divorce papers show that I have full care and custody so maybe that is why it was not an issue. Hope this helps!

[asylum575]

What were the circumstances of the name change? Was it done before a judge? Contact the lawyer or court that handled it. The name change should make this easier.

When we applied for passports for both our kids, the agency wanted to see the birth certificate and our licenses, proving we are the names on the birth certificate.

I believe the court that authorized the name change will be able to provide an acceptable document for the passport agency.

 

Not to pry, but it wouldn't be the worse idea to have limited contact with the father for other issues. Specifically, medical history. If the father gets sick or dies suddenly or very young, that information would be important to your son as he gets older. If it's too dificult, then so be it.

[Onessa]

The adoption process will take more than 3 months (as you explained). If the waiver for special circumstances and the proof of name change does not work for the passport, you may be able to petition the court for a waiver of parental rights in less time than the adoption would take (but probably not MUCH less time).

 

As others have stated, this situation is actually one of the better ways to learn the importance of having this situation legally resolved. I know of situations where the biological parent comes "back" and causes grief. I know of a sitaution where the custodial parent was killed and the that parent's spouse (the only father the child ever knew) was denied even visitation when the biological father's relatives gained legal custody. I also know of a situation where the biological father was absent until the child required life saving treatment and the bio-father caused it to be with held for a period of time while he fought for custody on religious grounds (he did not want the child treated for the disease, he felt that the power of prayer would cure the chlid). It can get really ugly, really fast!

[Vianky]

I almost wonder if the passport office assumes that your husband adopted your son bc of the name change? I don't see why this shouldn't work out. Please update, I'm curious to see how this pans out.

 

Well I showed proof of the name change but not an adoption so Im pretty sure they would think its just that. A name change. I should know this week.

[Vianky]

I went through this 2 years ago with DD. I sent the copy of my marriage certificate showing my new name (DD has my maiden name). Once they got that we received her passport with no problems. Her father is not involved. We did not need anything from him for her passort. Now, my divorce papers show that I have full care and custody so maybe that is why it was not an issue. Hope this helps!

 

 

I was never married (17 years old I was yougn stupid and in "love") so no divorce paper and no custody paper bc he has not been in his life since age 6 months and now he is 11. Just never needed it. Until now. A lawyer told me that since the has been no child support and no cantact that everyone just looks at it as full custody but I have nothing in writting to show the passport people. The only thing I could do is fill out that paper for special serc. Explain it all there.

[Vianky]

What were the circumstances of the name change? Was it done before a judge? Contact the lawyer or court that handled it. The name change should make this easier.

When we applied for passports for both our kids, the agency wanted to see the birth certificate and our licenses, proving we are the names on the birth certificate.

I believe the court that authorized the name change will be able to provide an acceptable document for the passport agency.

 

Not to pry, but it wouldn't be the worse idea to have limited contact with the father for other issues. Specifically, medical history. If the father gets sick or dies suddenly or very young, that information would be important to your son as he gets older. If it's too dificult, then so be it.

 

He had his name change bc he and I wanted us to all have the same last name. My now husband is the only father he knows and he wanted his last name. When I sent in for the passport I sent in all the court docs for his name change so the name change should not be a problem. It was all done in court with a judge.

 

I would like to have some medical info on the Bio dad but I really just know that he could be some where in Puerto Rico thats about it. I guess soon we will have to try and find him again to get the adoption thing going. My husband will adopt my son.

[Vianky]

The adoption process will take more than 3 months (as you explained). If the waiver for special circumstances and the proof of name change does not work for the passport, you may be able to petition the court for a waiver of parental rights in less time than the adoption would take (but probably not MUCH less time).

 

As others have stated, this situation is actually one of the better ways to learn the importance of having this situation legally resolved. I know of situations where the biological parent comes "back" and causes grief. I know of a sitaution where the custodial parent was killed and the that parent's spouse (the only father the child ever knew) was denied even visitation when the biological father's relatives gained legal custody. I also know of a situation where the biological father was absent until the child required life saving treatment and the bio-father caused it to be with held for a period of time while he fought for custody on religious grounds (he did not want the child treated for the disease, he felt that the power of prayer would cure the chlid). It can get really ugly, really fast!

 

Would I not need to find him for him to sign the waiver of parental rights?

 

I know. After this whole situation it really has made me worry about all of these situations. The thought of any of those things just makes me crazy now. I really never thought of it as a problem! But I do see how it is a big one.

[Onessa]

Would I not need to find him for him to sign the waiver of parental rights?

 

I know. After this whole situation it really has made me worry about all of these situations. The thought of any of those things just makes me crazy now. I really never thought of it as a problem! But I do see how it is a big one.

 

With the length of time that he has been out of the picture, you may find someone who is willing to indicate that it constitutes "abandonment" and you may be able to move along without the bio father's signature. Depends upon local law and the presiding official's whim.

 

Yup, now is the time to move forward on this issue. It's like everything else in life, most of us don't think about things until it is a problem (note to self, I really need to get the oil changed! :D)

[dyjack]

Went through the exact situation. Had my son at 17 and at the time we got the passport my son's dad was nowhere to be found. I called the State Department and spoke with someone regarding the situation. I was required to get a few notarized forms and had to send them with the application.

 

Fortunately when we renewed he was over 14. You no longer have to have the second parent's authorization when they are over 14. Let me know if you have specific questions.

[Vianky]

Went through the exact situation. Had my son at 17 and at the time we got the passport my son's dad was nowhere to be found. I called the State Department and spoke with someone regarding the situation. I was required to get a few notarized forms and had to send them with the application.

 

Fortunately when we renewed he was over 14. You no longer have to have the second parent's authorization when they are over 14. Let me know if you have specific questions.

 

Other then that special circumstances paper I had notarized, is there another one you can think of they asked you for?

[dyjack]

I have a file on my old pc where I documented everything we needed so I'll go and take a look but I think that was the bulk of it. What I would perhaps do though (and what I did) was make a couple of calls, ask specifically and get names and dates as references. This happens more often than you'd think according to the representative I spoke with. It's just not publicized on the State Department website, I think because folks who don't want to bother getting it even though they can may try to circumvent the process.

 

Not sure how old your child is but I was advised to contact an attorney specializing in family law to get something official that spoke to the situation to save future headaches. I never did it as we had the passport and I knew he'd be over that cutoff age soon. If he were younger I'd probably do it. The price quotes here in CT at the time were in line with the price for will preparation so it wasn't that much. Just a thought - not required for the passport but maybe beneficial in the future since we don't have any sorts of court orders or anything like that.

 

Good luck!

[Vianky]

Just wanted to let you guys know that my son DID get his passport. It came in the mail today apparently without a problem!

[notentirelynormal]

The passport isn't the hard part - its the permission to leave the country. Even if a parent gives permission to get a passport, they still have to give permission each time to travel abroad.

[Vianky]

The passport isn't the hard part - its the permission to leave the country. Even if a parent gives permission to get a passport, they still have to give permission each time to travel abroad.

 

See I dont have that problem. My son has our last name now and it shows on his passport. So really they have no reason to ask for a letter of permission.

[dn6482]

Vianky- please contact me, if you don't mind, I would like to ask you questions about how were you able to change your son's last name. I'm in the same situation. Thank you dn6482@msn.com:)

[notentirelynormal]

See I dont have that problem. My son has our last name now and it shows on his passport. So really they have no reason to ask for a letter of permission.

 

Lucky you :) (and that's not sarcasm)

[Cre]

I'd like to know the procedure to get the name change as well.

[Vianky]

I'd like to know the procedure to get the name change as well.

 

 

What I did was I went to the court house let them know I wanted to petition for a name change for a minor.

 

Since father was not in the picture and I could not find him I had to run an ad in the paper in the area for his last known address for 3 weeks. Clipped the ad as proof and since no one responded to the ad the name change was able to go through. They give you this paper for you to give to the news paper for them to run.

 

Also, since he has never paid child support or seen him for so many years it was considered abandonment.

 

If the father is in the picture someone needs to serve him with a copy of the petition and they give him a certain amount of time to answer. If he does not answer they will give you the name change with no problem. If he decides to fight it then it goes to court.

 

The whole process cost around $300 in court fee's plus the cost of the ad that was I think like $30. I also did it all myself. No lawyer.

 

Then when you have it granted you go to the social security office and change his name. You can also change his name on the birth certificate but I never did that since we are planning to do the adoption.

 

For now I have to always carry a certified copy of the name change with me when he goes to like a new school and things like that when you need his BC to enroll but he has a different name.