Follow-up: Adopting My Own Kid In Texas

Location: Texas

Good afternoon all, follow up to my previous post here: https://www.reddit.com/r/legaladvice/comments/1phvcol/adopting_my_own_child_texas/

We completed the court admissible DNA test and it came back with me as the biological father. I have been talking with my now daughter daily for 2 months since we originally met and she even came to visit my other kids and I for a week over new years. The visit went very well for 95% of the 8 days she was here. She got along with her new siblings well and got along with me well. She commented on things as weird such as giving hugs/affection, asking how other people are, asking what they would like to do/eat for dinner, not having to give up her phone at night for anyone to go through. All perfectly normal things in my household and I imagine quite a few other households as well. She commented she gets almost none of that from 'stepdad' and that he goes through all her things(including phone) daily.

I previously say 95% as the last day was fairly rough. She asked on the last day of her visit for me to sign away my rights as her dad so stepdad could adopt her. I told her I was not going to do that. Stepdad has been in her ear the entire visit saying everything I'm doing is so I can establish paternity and take her away from her other siblings and him and she'll never see them again. Obviously not true but she doesn't know any better. She said multiple times doing the DNA test, "you're going to kidnap me, don't adopt me, let my stepdad adopt me, you're being a problem." Not very nice to hear but basically a mouth piece from stepdad.

I called him out on it and stepdad called me, cussing me out, calling me every name under the sun, and going on and on about how I'm not a 'real man', all the while not owning up to his own failures in raising her where she is now emotionally starved for affection and attention and her thinking it is completely normal to just be a husk internally. Once stepdad was done with his rants he then hit record on the phone call and completely changed tone saying he supports her, only wants what's good for her, has never done anything wrong, etc. He then sends the recorded conversation to my new daughter to listen to. She immediately thinks he's the good guy and I'm the bad guy. (I didn't give him anything in the recording, just mostly repeated what he was saying before the call was recorded; i.e. what happened to you calling me a bitch and an asshole?) but he is directly putting a 15 year old girl right in the middle of a disagreement he's having with me. Pretty unbelievable.

The rest of the day she refused to talk to me, barely acknowledged my other kids or myself, and just put her headphones on and went into her own little world. She flew back to grandparents and stepdad and didn't say much before leaving to anyone. That was Monday and I haven't heard from her at all despite talking everyday for 2 months beforehand. I'm giving her space now but will probably reach out in a couple days to let her know I'm thinking of her.

For the legal part now. Now that I have the DNA test in hand I have a consult with a lawyer next month to get on her birth certificate, change her legal last name from the guy who is currently on there(random guy, not stepdad), and appoint grandparents as temporary guardians(as others mentioned in my first post) to smooth the transition. The grandparents are completely behind me and ready to assist in any way, even financially, but I am hoping to get advice on the legal issues I will run into over the next few months trying to accomplish this. Can stepdad give me as much grief legally as he has over the past couple days personally? I imagine not as he has no legal standing but he also will most likely continue to be a negative influence in her ear that I can't stop. Could I possibly put some kind of restraining order on him or have him restricted from doing his best to sway her so negatively where she doesn't know right from wrong? And what issues may the grandparents have with being guardians to her if she is so adamant on being with stepdad because she doesn't know any better?

Thank you all, the initial post gave me a lot to go on and it has helped immensely.