Women For Fathers Rights

Q. My recent boyfriend’s ex-girlfriend is pregnant with his child.  He wants to have custody of the baby, since she doesn’t want to keep the baby and is planning on putting the baby up for adoption.  Can she do this without my boyfriend’s consent?  What are his legal rights when it comes to the unborn child and proving it is his baby for custody?

A.  If she is planning on putting the baby up for adoption after it is born, then she may try keeping his name off the birth certificate, stating the father as unknown, in order to do that.  What needs to be done first is a paternity test.  Either an in-utero paternity test, or a paternity test immediately after the baby is born, is necessary in order to get his name on the baby’s birth certificate. I would also suggest filing a Petition for Paternity immediately to get “on the record” the fact that your boyfriend is claiming he is probably is the Father.

Once his name is on the birth certificate, he has a say.  If she has written to him in a letter or email or even a phone text that she wants to give up the baby, make sure you make copies and use it in court—she may go to court saying that she never wanted to put the baby up for adoption, only to be hit with her own written evidence stating she did.  Even if she decided to, say, keep the baby but give over legal rights to her parents, the court would still favor on the side of keeping the baby with a biological parent, so your boyfriend would have a wonderful set-up for getting full custody of his child!