A Father’s Rights to Custody; Thwarted, Ignored, Legally Denied, and Unjustly Steamrolled

It might seem that a father should have a natural right to parent his own child, but sadly, when adoption enters the picture, the rights of the birthfather are often nonexistent. We were able to see just how horrible the system was as the baby Veronica Rose Brown case flooded the media this past year, but as I kept on saying over and over again, the story of Dusten Brown’s fight to be able to parent his daughter is not an isolated case or an exception, but all too often, the rule.

A father’s right to the custody of his own flesh and blood is something most easily and legally forgotten when the birthmother of the child has “chosen” relinquishment for the baby. Worse, yet, the laws are stacked up against him and the legal battles that go with his desire to parent often take years and thousands of dollars in legal fees.

Learn how to Protect Your Rights as Father Now!

Legal Adoption Practices That Thwart Father’s Rights to Their Children

There are standard practices in the adoption process that are used every day in the United States that basically screw over a father’s right to his own child. I will be expanding on them as time goes on, but for now typical practices employed by the adoption industry to ignore father’s rights include:

Adoption agencies will instruct prospective birthmothers to leave off the father’s names and site them as “unknown” on the original birth certificate. It removed the legal necessity of informing a particular father of his rights before the child is relinquished. This adoption practice goes hand and hiand with the next part of the adoption process

Terminating a Father’s Parental Rights ( TPR) though notice in the legal section of the classifieds :

An “unknown” father is then, “notified” by a listing in the legal section of a “local” newspaper. Of course, the chances of a father reading the legal notices looking for the names of women he slept with and might possibly be pregnant is small. This possibility of this is further reduced by posting the legal notice in a paper where the father does no longer reside. Of interest to note is that the birthmother of the child is usually named in the legal listing which makes the concept of “birthmother privacy” completely moot.

Now most of the time, if the mother is married to the father, then his parental rights are much more protected. However, if the father is NOT married to the mother of the child, then he is considered a putative father.

What Rights Does the Unmarried Putative Father Have in Adoption?

In a word? None. No, really if a man wants to parent his child and adoption is threatening his door, the shotgun wedding is a much better bet!

Supposedly, a natural parent has a liberty interest in the companionship, care, custody and control of his or her children, protected under the due process clause of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments of the United States Constitution, but that protection is not extended to the unmarried father in light of adoption proceedings begun upon the mother’s wishes.

The putative father is not a “parent” within the meaning of the law. Rather, he is a mere “biological link,” whose connection to the child “offers the natural father an opportunity that no other male possesses to develop a relationship with his offspring. If he grasps that opportunity and accepts some measure of responsibility for the child’s future, he may enjoy the blessings of the parent-child relationship and make uniquely valuable contributions to the child’s development.” [i]

Unless he can PROVE his ability to “support” the unborn child through the mother the constitution is effectively nothing to him.

The putative father has to earn his constitutionally protected parental status in way that natural mother or married father does not. Without his constitutionally protected parental status, he can lose the child he just discovered, regardless of the circumstances of the discovery, within days of the discovery.

In all likelihood, he finds out about his child when he receives notice that his rights will be terminated or his consent to his child’s adoption is not necessary. At the point, the outcome is little in doubt.

Thwarting a Father’s Attempt to “Provide Support” for the Expectant Mother

So what is a father to be expected to do in order to “earn” his legal rights to his unborn child? The putative father must provide:

Consistent prenatal financial support

Payment of prenatal and natal medical care for the mother and baby

Child support payments proportional with his ability to pay

Consistent contact and visitation with the child

Assistance with educational and medical care of the child

Of course these things are difficult if not impossible to do if: 1) he has no knowledge of the pregnancy, 2) he is lied to about the outcome of the pregnancy ( it’s not yours, I miscarried, I had an abortion) 3) His attempts at providing support are refused.

Adoption agencies know that many a young man is completely out of his league and unknowledgeable about what steps he needs to take to preserve any rights to his child. Adoption attorneys have been known to instruct expectant mothers to completely block a father form their lives; refuse any contact, refuse any communication, and refuse any financial assistance as all those attempts strengthen his claim upon the baby. They will do things like move the expectant mother out of state so the father cannot find her. Refuse to let him into the hospital or be part of the birth process for his own offspring and get restraining orders against the father’s side of the family.

The legal term for this is a “thwarted father”.

Putative Father’s Registries

In addition, there are some states with putative father’s registries, though again, many men are completely unaware of their existence until it is too late. States that offer a putative father registry may not require any effort to be made to locate the birthfather. In these places, the burden falls on the man to know whether he may have gotten someone pregnant and to take steps to retain his parental rights, if he wants them. The amount of time that a man has to respond to the notification also varies by state. Usually it’s a few weeks. If he can’t be located or doesn’t respond within that time frame, the adoption moves forward.

There is also a bill in Congress right now that will establish a National Putative Father’s Registry, which if not ironically and telling enough, is called the “Protecting Adoption Act” (H.R. 3549) .

Father’s Fighting for Their Parental Rights Right Now

Sadly, I expect this list to grow. There are all too many fathers fighting to support their yet unborn children, trying to retain their rights to their babies, or regain them. Many, many others have long lost after fighting for years.

I will try to keep the list updated, but if you know of a dad fighting, please by all means, send me some information; some links to his story/Website/ Facebook pages/ or funding attempts.

Cody O’Dea- Let Cody Met His Daughter: http://www.babyselling.com/

Jake Strickland- Get Baby Jack Back http://www.getbabyjackback.com/

John Wyatt- Baby Emma Wyatt Fund http://www.babyemmawyatt.com/Donate.html

Robert Manzanares – Illegal Adoption of Kaia http://illegaladoption.com/donations-to-legal-fund/

Bobby Nevares- Bringing Brady Michael Home http://bringingbradyhome.com/

Keary Watson and Elizabeth Renee Watson http://www.gofundme.com/1fyok

SETTLED! Garrett WON! Garrett B. Joiner- http://www.adoptionbirthmothers.com/a-measure-of-justice-for-father-garrett-joiner-and-his-son/

Garrett B. Joiner- http://www.adoptionbirthmothers.com/a-measure-of-justice-for-father-garrett-joiner-and-his-son/ Justin & Jerrad Wood-Lee http://www.gofundme.com/bringjerradhome

Jeremy Simmons

Terry Achane

Cody Deadmond http://fox2now.com/2014/04/28/teen-dad-says-adoption-agency-stands-in-the-way-of-raising-his-baby/

I will be adding pages for each of these dads as time goes on, so please let me know what is missing. It is only though this truth; that the adoption industry routinely denies fathers their rights to their children can we help shed light on these unjust practices.

[i] 9. Lehr v. Robertson, 463 U.S. 248, 103 S.Ct. 2985, 77 L.Ed.2d 614 (1983) (The Court then stating, “We are concerned only with whether New York has adequately protected [putative father’s] opportunity to form such a relationship.”)