Legal Question in Family Law in California

For better or worse, there is no way a father can give up his parental rights, because they are tied to the parental responsibilities that the state has a public policy interest in holding him to. The only exception is if he is found to be an unfit parent by law, which usually requires significant danger or harm to the child, or by abandoning the child. Abandonment requires a MINIMUM of a year with no contact and no support of the child. In reality, though, unless there is a step-parent who has stepped into the role of father and wants to do a step-parent adoption, the courts are very reluctant to declare an abandonment in the face of the strong public interest in having fathers take responsibility for their children. So absent a step-parent adoption option, courts will bend over backward to allow a biological father to assert his parental rights (and responsibilities) even in the face of a very prolonged absence from the child's life.