Move Fast If Your Baby’s Momma Is Putting Him Up

A Court of Appeals upheld a trial court’s decision to deny a father the right to deny his child’s adoption on the 5th of this month. The father had filed a motion to stay his child’s adoption by a couple — an adoption the mother filed for upon the child’s birth. The motion was denied by a trial court because:

• While the father claimed that he was “not aware of [his child]’s birth,” there was evidence that he had learned that the mother was pregnant with his child when she was only five months pregnant.
• Between the time that he learned of the pregnancy and the birth, he had purchased prenatal vitamins for the mother — proof that he knew she was pregnant with his child, but also proof that he was distinctly failing to meanignfully support the mother during her pregnancy.
• (This is the important one) The father didn’t claim paternity at the child’s birth (because he wasn’t there), and didn’t file for paternity for  two months after the child was born. By then, the adoption papers had been filed and the child’s placement had been settled.

The Court of Appeals found that it was very likely that the father had filed for paternity only because he wanted to stay the adoption. That implied that, if the mother had kept the child, he would have been an absentee father insofar as he never would have filed for paternity.

Furthermore, the gentleman’s own testimony is that he “might have been OK with the adoption” if the mother had communicated with him about the plan. Only because the adoption was kept from him did he consider a stay of the adoption to be “fight[ing] for the baby” against the baby’s momma.

Finally, the original trial court found that the factors taken into account when determining “best interest” of the child were distinctly leaning against the father gaining custody of the child. Those factors are:

• The existing emotional ties between the individual and the child,
• The ability of the individual to give affection, guidance, and culturally-appropriate identity,
• The ability of the individual to provide for the material, medical, and economic needs of the child,
• The stability of the individual’s living environment and the individual’s desire to maintain that environment with continuity,
• The permanence of the individual’s family unit as a part of the child’s social environment,
• The moral fitness of the individual,
• The mental and physical health of the individual,
• The ‘permanent records’ of the individual from school, work, home, and community,
• The preference of the child if the child is at least 14 and the court deems the child able to adequately express a preference,
• The ability of the individual to also take custody of the child’s siblings, and
• Any other factor the court deems relevant to a specific proceeding.

“Best interest” factors notwithstanding, however, the clear giveaway in this entire case is the fact that the father didn’t show any interest in filing for paternity until it was evident that the baby’s momma was planning on handing those rights to someone else.

Lesson for all of you putative fathers out there: if you’re interested in being a part of your child’s life in any way, file for paternity immediately upon learning that you have a child coming. They don’t have to be born for you to file — commit to fatherhood now, or you might just lose your chance! Call Gucciardo Family Law at 248-723-5190 — we’ll help you file quickly and correctly the first time.