How long with no parent contact before you can call it abandonment?

The mother is in prison, and this is my great niece. The Father has Custody he lives in Kentucky and she is with me. I have her Fathers premission. She has been with me in florida sine June of 06 We heard from him 1 time, he was suppose to keep in touch and see her durning school breaks. He made contact with her 1 time this summer here in flordia .He has a studdering problem, (speech) so he is very hard to talk to. The social worker contacted him one time to ask for money to help me, and he said he would take care of her. But never call back to have her bought home or anything. She doesn't hardly know and and doesn't want to live with him. How can I protect her from him and keep her with me. She is 9 and doing great here.How long with no parent contact before you can call it abandonment?
File for custody. He obviously doesn't want her with him and it sounds like she is happy with you and where she is. It would only be cruel to change her living arrangements now. Keep up the good work!How long with no parent contact before you can call it abandonment?
Well, you can't just cut him off. One day one or both are going to resent that. If she's happy with you then it'll show. She should call him and let him know that she cares about him, or even that she's thinking about him. But she should be sure to communicate that she is happy with YOU.
Since a Social Worker has already contacted him and he did not live up to his agreement to take care of her, I don't think that you will have any problem having her declared abandoned and legally adopting her.
I would venture a guess, that would be abandonment. I'd think by now if he hasn't made some kind of effort to even talk to her, he isn't interested
Maybe you need family counseling. it sounds like you are under a lot of stress.
in some states if a parent doesnt pay any support of any kind within one year that person loses all rights and you can hire an attorney and get a temprorary legal custody order and then go to court and see if you can adopt her



to me it sounds like he might sign the papers for you to adopt and if not you can run it in the newspaper for 30 days and if there no reply from him you can do that is what i heard but i would talk to attorney to make sure



or you can go to the website google and look adoptions laws in your state ihope these ideas help you best of luck
Contact an attorney. Get a file started. Then have your attorney contact the DHS - Childs Welfare Dept. to inform them of the fathers failure to contact the child,,,,and also to support her.

I'm not sure how long the statue is for abandonment, but your attorney should be able to tell you. They can also start your custody / adoption papers as soon as you find out the information you need.



good luck