abandonment

I have a four & a half year old.
Her "dad" left a year ago.
she starts kindergarten I'm September....

My question without getting into to much detail, i want to legally change her last name to mine [currently his last name]
I know what i need to do, for this to happen. Her "dad" is under court order child support, but hasn't seen her in a year. No attemps made on his side. I'm very close with his family still. We work for the.same company, he has mitple.way to contact me. (including facebook)

Is it worth it?
I want to talk with her, my mom and his mom included. She.stopped asking for him months ago, but.i.know she.remembers him. Im afraid of being.the bad person here.... Shes to young to understand what is exactly happened, but.im worried when shes old.enough to grasp.this, she will feel betrayed by.me, like i didnt do enough.to.keep him around.

The othrr night during her.prayers, she.told God, her dad doesnt love her anymore-.and she doesnt know why, even though she was always nice to him.
This breaks my heart, i don't know what to do.... Please, advice....

[sorry for the spelling errors, on s cell phone]

*Scared & heart broken mama*

Is it worth changing her name? Yep... I changed Lily's name when she was at the end of her kindergarten year and it was SO worth the fight.

The judge denied me the first time, another judge in another county approved it a few years later. SO EFFING WORTH IT!!!!

What's the process for changing the lastname?

Quoting ~Boo's Mom~:" What's the process for changing the lastname?"

Go to court and petition the courts for a minor name change. You can have both parties agree and its a done deal as long as the name wont cause harm to the child, OR if one party disagrees then you go to court to see whats in the best interest of the child.

Quoting FroggysMommy:" Go to court and petition the courts for a minor name change. You can have both parties agree and its ... [snip!] ... wont cause harm to the child, OR if one party disagrees then you go to court to see whats in the best interest of the child."

Her dad is not in her life....I don't even know where he is now. He moves like every few months

<blockquote><b>Quoting ~Boo's Mom~:</b>" Her dad is not in her life....I don't even know where he is now. He moves like every few months"</blockquote>




Then go to court and they will have you "notify" him of your court date in the newspaper. Then court will come and a judge will listen to why you want to change bebes name and if they agree... then the name change is granted and you post one more final notice in the newspaper to make it official  

I am right there with you. My daughter is 4 and a half as well and I want to change her last name to mine. Her dad is not really in her life at all. She last saw him Feb. 2011 and really doesn't talk to him much, maybe once every few weeks to months. Right now the last time was Christmas Eve. I say go for it and change her name. I have talked to my daughter about changing her name and she knows that I am going to. She knows what her name is now, and that her and her dad have the same last name now (me as well but I am almost done with a divorce and told her I am changing my name) so she knows her last name will change to my maiden name, and then we will both have the same last name. I know that she really doesn't understand all of it, ,but I try to explain it to her in simple terms and she seems okay with knowing that her last name will change. If you ever want to talk, let me know!