Vanishing father

by Beatrice
(Oklahoma City, OK )

My daughter was born 20 years ago. Her father and I never married, in fact, when I found out I was pregrant I left the country. Before I gave birth to my daughter, informed her father of our location and sent him pictures of her once she was born. He never paid child support, he never attempted to contact us. I've attempted to get in touch with him, but because he was in the Marines it was impossible to track him, or at least I didn't have any means to do so. So now, after 20 years, thanks to the advancement in technologies, I managed to locate him. He lives just a few state from me. I informed my daughter of the information I recently found, she was glad and disappointed at the same time. She felt so many emotions, resentments, and feelings of abandonment. he is trying to get back in her life, but she doesn't think he should be because of how he just abandoned her. I never needed his help to raise my daughter, I was a single parents but managed to provide to necessities for her. My family suggested that I sue him for child support, I have conflicted feelings about that. I don't even know if I have any recourse now that she is 20 years of age...I am in the state of oklahoma. The paternity was never established, no child support order drafted because he could never be found, but now he acknowledges. I don't know what to do...