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There are various reasons for this, such as parents with histories of neglect, abuse, addiction, mental illness, and other factors that endanger the child's wellbeing or otherwise prevent the child's physical or emotional needs from being met.

If the court finds that the petitioner has exercised due diligence in attempting to locate the parent, no contact between the child and the child's parent, guardian, or other custodian for a period of three months creates a rebuttable presumption of abandonment, even if there is no expressed intent to abandon.

In Washington, you personally serve papers by having someone 18 or older and of sound mind deliver them to the recipient. The person effecting service cannot be you. It doesn't need to be a professional process server though. For example, a friend can do it.

There is no set age at which a child can refuse visitation in the state of Washington. The courts will never sanction a parent if they have an independent child who simply refuses to visit the other spouse. If a parent is preventing visits, the judge can enforce the visitation order or even hold the parent in contempt.

Petitions for voluntary termination of parental rights may be initiated for either an unborn or born child. The hearing on the petitions for relinquishment or termination cannot occur until at least 48 hours after the birth of the child or the parent's signing the consent to adoption, whichever is later.

Family abandonment?Penalty?Exception. (1) Except as provided in subsection (2) of this section, any person who has a child dependent upon him or her for care, education or support and deserts such child in any manner whatever with intent to abandon it is guilty of the crime of family abandonment.