Q: My daughter who is 2 hasn’t seen her mom since she was 4 months. can I file for abandonment/get her rights removed?
Her mom has been in and out of jail and she doesn’t call or text only reason I know she’s not in jail is because I check her Facebook. But she has had ZERO contact since she was 4 months old. No contact no calls no money nothing.
A: Idaho used to have a statute that said that a parent who fail to have normal parent/child relationship for over one year without just cause was guilty of abandonment and subject to having rights terminated. I do not know personally why that law was abandoned by the Idaho legislature but it has been. Now, Idaho has a vested, financial reason for not permitting you to terminate your child's mothers legal rights, despite the lack of physical contact or even financial support. The reason is simple: money. If you, fell on hard times and were in need of Idaho's financial assistance, this money you receive must be paid back. Who is going to pay it back question mark you can't you have needs. So, the only other entity would be your wife or the mother of your child that they would look to for repayment. If you were able to terminate her rights, they would lose one party that they could look to for repayment of this social debt.
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