Many Minnesota residents are well aware that complications often arise when a child is born to an unmarried couple. While in some cases, the mother may not want to take care of the child, other times, the mother may try to prevent the father from establishing parental rights. Either way, the situation is fraught with complications and the child naturally suffers.
If Child Welfare Services has its way in a recent case, an unmarried father may soon lose his parental rights, even though there is no allegation of abuse or neglect by the father. The 26-year old man met the mother and had a six-month relationship, which concluded in 2011. By the time they broke up, the woman was expecting.
Following the breakup, the mother refused to give the child’s father any visitation rights, including refusing to allow the father to see his daughter on the day that she was born. When the girl was six months old, the mother was arrested and the girl was placed in foster care with a cousin. As the man’s name was not on the child’s birth certificate, his attorney suggested that he take a paternity test. He did so and the test showed that he was the biological father of the child. Since the child was still in state custody, the CWS worker said that the child should be in foster care until father and child could be reunited with the help of CWS
While taking a series of parenting classes as referred by the CWS worker, the man was under the impression that he would be reunited with the child after three months; however, after several months, the CWS worker informed the man that he should agree to the termination of his parental rights so that the foster parent could adopt the child. Another hearing is scheduled in the immediate future to determine the status of the man’s request for reunification.
Source: Cal Coast News, “Father fights for the right to raise his child,” Karen Velie, Dec.12, 2014
