What does “technically” adopted mean? I think you’re either adopted or you’re not. When my sister’s 2nd husband adopted the child from her 1st marriage, the biological dad lost all parental rights. The only parents listed on any forms are my sister and her 2nd spouse because they’re the legal parents. If you were legally adopted, it seems to me like your bio dad doesn’t belong on your apps at all. I’d see a lawyer to confirm, then resubmit corrected apps. If schools want proof, your adoption papers should prove who your legal parents are.
My apologies for the confusion, sometimes I use the word “technically” where it’s not necessary. I was saying technically because he didn’t adopt me from an orphanage or anything, just as my legal father when my mother got remarried.
I did not remember that he had adopted us. It was when I was very young so I obviously wasn’t thinking about the implications back then.
A social worker came to our house, and asked my brother and I information about whether or not we had any contact with our biological father. We hadn’t, of course.
The only issue is that since I originally put my stepfather as my stepfather, the CSS profile won’t revert to the version without the NP section, and it gives me an error for that whole page. I’m going to try calling them to see if they’ll reset it.
@austinmshauri I haven’t submitted CSS as of yet. I submitted the FAFSA to the first half of the schools on my list, but I was reviewing it and I didn’t see a place where I put stepfather vs father. They don’t seem to clarify between the two, they just say things like
“What is your Parent 2 (father’s/mother’s/stepparent’s) last name?”
You need to contact someone to update your paperwork. Let us know what they say.
Will do. Thank god CSS has extended hours through to april.
FAFSA only cares about the parent(s) you are living with. It doesn’t really care whether the husband of your mother, living with you, is a bio father or step father or some other legal status - FAFSA just wants to know how much money he makes. You should be fine with what you submitted.
CSS cares. If you’ve submitted things with him listed as your stepfather, you need correct it. It may require re-submitting on paper.
You really need to get this straight in your mind. He’s your father. You have a right to inherit from him, he may have legal obligations toward you even if he divorces your mother. He chose to adopt you, and took on legal obligations when he did.
Just so nobody else worries about it: Nothing has been submitted via CSS. The only thing that I did regarding the noncustodial parent, is request the NCP waiver from some of the schools on my list. Hopefully that won’t be an issue further down the line.
I always had a very poor relationship with my stepfather, so I never really thought of him as my father. But I’m beginning to understand the legal differences. It just never came up before so I never understood the legal differences between just a stepfather and an adoptive father.
If this IS your parent, you need to list them as “married” on the Fafsa and profile. You would not have been able to get a NCP form sent if your parents were listed as “married”.
They are listed as married. But because I initially listed him as my stepdad, it triggered the CSS to open up the NP section.
There is no technically. Unless you have been legally adopted, then your stepfather is just that,your stepfather. Adoptions take place and are recognized by the courts. He is legally married to your mother. If the marriage ends, you have no relationship.
You must call him what he legally is;your biological, legal ( meaning adopted) or stepparent
You must still get info from your noncustodial parent if the school request it or you must get a non custodia waiver.
Otherwise you have commuted fraud which will have not serious consequences Ike having to repay all of your aid and getting kicked out of school
As I clarified on the previous page, my stepfather has adopted me legally.
I’m going to call collegeboard and see if they can help me reset my profile so the NP section no longer shows.
Sybbie, it is not always that clear. When I registered my kids for high school after a move, there were a ton of forms to fill out. One for the schools district started out “Mother’s name” (okay, easy) and the next was “Relationship to student” and the choices were 1) natural mother; 2) stepmother; 3) guardian or 4) foster mother. I filled it out for my bio daughter so easy, #1. My adopted daughter was filling out her form and I hear “Hey, none of these are right.”
We left it blank and no one every questioned it. Filled it out every year, left it blank every year, and no questions asked. #1 should have just been ‘mother’ (not natural mother) and it would have been fine.
There are also laws in some states where stepparents do have rights (and responsibilities) after divorce in a long term relationship.
I would think schools would be very understanding in this situation. I have a relative whose father has been incarcerated since she was little. I think she just needed to file an affidavit that his parental rights had been terminated. That might have happened to your father when your step father adopted you.
I called the CSS and they told me to go to the basic registration page again and edit my information.
- What is the current marital status of the student's biological or adoptive parents? Answer this question with the marital status of the student's biological or adoptive parents, or, if the student has one, the marital status of her or his legal guardian.
The guy from Collegeboard said that I should be changing this to “married”. My mother is my biological mother, and my adoptive father is married to her. There is no “other” or anything like that, and if any college financial aid departments have any questions, they are fully welcome to ask and I will provide all of the information.
By changing this answer it seems to have fixed my issue. There doesn’t seem to be an extremely clear way to file this issue, but at the very basic simple registration page this seems to me, to be the right answer to pursue.
Yes, I don’t think that your adoptive father would have been able to adopt you if your biological father still had parental rights. Therefore, your biological mother IS your mother, and your adoptive father IS your father. End of story.
Seems like it. I hope this is the end of my issues! I’ll be submitting the CSS profile today, and I’ll come back to this thread and update it for the benefit of any future readers, if I have any issues with it.