At the beginning of the year, we talked about a win for a fathers’ rights that gave other Texas dads hope they could achieve the same fate. The case involved a woman who gave her daughter up for adoption as the baby’s father was due to deploy with the military. After he was allegedly deceived into giving up his rights, he was able to regain custody of his child. The case has recently taken a turn, after the U.S. Supreme Court gave the adoptive parents custody again, and they were able to take back the child, and are now suing the father for $1 million for legal fees as he tried to protect his fathers’ rights.
There have been many controversial issues in this adoption battle. The woman who ran the adoption agency took care of the couple wanting to adopt this baby, and in addition she had her husband represent them in court. The adopting couple also paid for the baby’s mother’s legal fees. In addition, there has also been speculation regarding everything the adoptive couple paid for, and some are wondering if it is unorthodox.
Due to laws applying to the couple, the father could not fight the case because they were unmarried and living separately. The mother stopped communication with him, even warning hospital staff to lie if he called, and say she never went into labor there. The child also had a Native American heritage, and by law has to have the tribe’s permission to adopt or move the child to another state. They did not get this permission, and even put her ethnicity as Hispanic on her birth certificate, instead of Native American — leaving the tribe helpless.
The man may now be due to pay for the adoptive couple’s $1 million legal fees, on top of his own. The man likely feels as if he had his fathers’ rights taken away wrongfully. Although this case has caught major attention by Texas fathers, it can happen to anyone, regardless of state. Other men who feel that their fathers’ rights have been threatened may wish to research their legal options to protect them, and to help maintain their relationship with their children.
