Termination of Parental Rights....

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[amyarb80]

Hi all!
Just curious if anyone has had any experiences with terminating parental rights and could help shed a little more light on it for me. I am a single mother of a 2 yr old boy. He will be three in Dec. His biological father has not been in contact with me since I was 6 months pregnant, has never paid child support, and has never had anything to do with my son. My son was born in Alabama but conceived in Mississippi. I filed for child support in Feb. 2005 at the Dept. of Human Resources. I finally had my first appt with them over a year later. They told me that they couldn't try the case here in Alabama because my son was not conceived here and would have to send the case over to Mississippi. That was last summer and no money yet. I'm really beyond wanting child support now. All I really want is to have his rights terminated, but I know the grounds for termination vary from state to state. Does anyone know if they would go by the state of Alabama's guidelines? Or would they go my Mississippi's since that's where the biological father lives? I know parental rights can be terminated for lack of support and failure to maintain visitation, contact, or communication with the child. But, how long does this have to go on before the court will terminate rights?
Right now I'm in school and only working part time, so hiring a lawyer is not something I feel like I can financially handle right now. I do plan to actively persue this after I graduate in two years. If his lack of support and contact continues, does anyone have any idea of how good of a case I'll have against him? Any knowlege or advice would greatly be appreciated.