Own child coming from out of state

Not a NaNo but a sequeuel to my YA book...

How easy is it for a biological father who has almost never seen his kid but who would, according to intestacy laws, have custody after a parent's death to actually take custody of and adopt the child? Mother and kids know about him or her(haven't decided which yet) but I'm thinking they've never seen him/her, although I posit that the preteen/teen MMC and MFC, being leaders that way, have talked to him on the phone. The kid knows his dad's in antoher state.

I haven't figured out how old to have him/her be, but from what I've heard, out of state parental visitation usually wouldn't happen over a few weeks in a summer till at least age 6 or so, probably older, right?

Would the biological dad normally have to go get the child? I would presume so. Since he doesn't have contact but there was no order regulating it would there have to be a home visit by a social worker? Or does that depend totally on the state?

Thanks.

If one spouse dies, the other spouse (bilogical parent) automatically gets custody of the children, unless there is a reason why that spouse (biological parent) would be unfit. Not knowing, the age and sex of the children, nor who they where living with before the death of the parent, one would tend to assume that they would go to the other parent. There would be no reason for the other biological parent to adopt them, as by default the children are awarded to the parents...

Hope that helps

Okay, thanks; that works nicely with what I'm thinking of doing here.