Originally Posted by Blackcat31:
The ONLY way I would deny a father access to his child is IF I have paperwork from the courts saying I can.
I would never deny a father access to his child based solely on what the unwed mother writes down on a piece of paper.
The statement that 'you
should deny pickup from the father without written consent from unwed mother' sounds more like legal advice, not necessarily a law. But I would imagine if a DCP released a child to the father against the custodial mother's permission, that DCP could possibly be in trouble because technically the unwed father doesn't have any custodial or visitation rights.
Originally Posted by daycarediva:
If he is on the birth certificate, he is the father.
Is there a reason we are just denying these fathers the right to see their children? I find most custody issues with this situation just done out of pure spite, it only hurts the child.
If there IS a reason to stop the father from seeing the child, it needs to be court documented (even police protection order!)
The father being on a birth cert or ROP doesn't grant him legal rights to custody. At least here in MN. He may be the father but I'm just speaking from a legal perspective.
Sure, some mothers will do it out of spite and for no good reason but sometimes it's for the child's safety.
In my case, I can tell you for certain my child wouldn't have been safe with birth dad - and I didn't have no where near enough concrete evidence for a protection order. Nor did I have $20,000 to drop on a lawyer
(yes, that's what we were told ballpark to expect to pay).
Originally Posted by Meeko:
Obviously states differ, but Utah law says we cannot withold a child from a parent unless we have specific court documents stating clearly that they cannot have the child.
It is considered kidnapping to stop a parent from taking their own child. Providers are on thin ice if they decide to side with a parent and deny the other access just because they want to.
I make it very clear to single parents that unless I have paperwork to the contrary, I will not stop the other parent from picking up at any time.
That makes sense if that's what your state laws say. I'm just relaying what MN law says
