LilMtnCbn
07-13-2004, 05:50 AM
http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/journalgazette/news/editorial/9142891.htm
Absent fathers, beware
A little-known state registry gives the adoptive parents of children whose
birth fathers are absent a great deal of protection while offering little to
the fathers. And there’s nothing wrong with that.
Niki Kelly’s story Sunday informed readers of the state’s Putative Father
Registry.
In theory, the registry gives men who are or believe they may be the father of
a child born out of wedlock an opportunity to challenge any adoption of that
child.
In practice it prevents men who didn’t sign up from later challenging an
adoption in court.
Many such fathers may not even know the registry exists. That’s what happened
to an Indianapolis man when the mother of his child, a Warsaw woman, asked the
court to allow her husband to adopt her daughter. An appeals court last year
upheld the adoption, even though the Indianapolis man never knew he could have
registered, giving him the right to later fight the adoption.
The registry applies only if the father has never established paternity. And
the state makes valid efforts to inform such fathers of the registry.
By law, notices of the registry are posted in license branches, hospitals and
health department offices.
The Fort Wayne-Allen County Board of Health offers registry forms to men who
come to sign affidavits declaring paternity. (Fathers register through the
local or state board of health.)
In other words, any father who remotely shows involvement in his child’s
birth has plenty of notice of the registry. Any father who legally establishes
paternity has rights to protest an adoption. Any father who does neither should
not be entitled to fight an adoption.
Such absent fathers should have no legal standing to stop a mother who wants to
allow a new mate or another couple to adopt her child.
-------------------------
A good friend will come and bail you out of jail . . . but, a true friend will
be sitting next to you saying, "Damn . . . that was fun!"
-----Unknown
Absent fathers, beware
A little-known state registry gives the adoptive parents of children whose
birth fathers are absent a great deal of protection while offering little to
the fathers. And there’s nothing wrong with that.
Niki Kelly’s story Sunday informed readers of the state’s Putative Father
Registry.
In theory, the registry gives men who are or believe they may be the father of
a child born out of wedlock an opportunity to challenge any adoption of that
child.
In practice it prevents men who didn’t sign up from later challenging an
adoption in court.
Many such fathers may not even know the registry exists. That’s what happened
to an Indianapolis man when the mother of his child, a Warsaw woman, asked the
court to allow her husband to adopt her daughter. An appeals court last year
upheld the adoption, even though the Indianapolis man never knew he could have
registered, giving him the right to later fight the adoption.
The registry applies only if the father has never established paternity. And
the state makes valid efforts to inform such fathers of the registry.
By law, notices of the registry are posted in license branches, hospitals and
health department offices.
The Fort Wayne-Allen County Board of Health offers registry forms to men who
come to sign affidavits declaring paternity. (Fathers register through the
local or state board of health.)
In other words, any father who remotely shows involvement in his child’s
birth has plenty of notice of the registry. Any father who legally establishes
paternity has rights to protest an adoption. Any father who does neither should
not be entitled to fight an adoption.
Such absent fathers should have no legal standing to stop a mother who wants to
allow a new mate or another couple to adopt her child.
-------------------------
A good friend will come and bail you out of jail . . . but, a true friend will
be sitting next to you saying, "Damn . . . that was fun!"
-----Unknown
