Recent Court Ruling Denies Viable Father for Rights and Forces Child into Adoption

Imagine--you're seventeen, hold down a part-time job, and are successful in school.  You're on the school's football team, baseball team, and have no criminal history or history of drug use or alcohol use.  Your girlfriend gets pregnant, tells you you're the father, and you prepare accordingly to have the child raised and cared for in your home by your mother while you're in school.  The crib is assembled and the nursery is complete, a whole separate room in your parents' home for your new arrival.

Delivery day comes.  The mother of your child refuses you as the father and puts the child up for adoption.

Like most dads (regardless of age), you would go through the courts to fight for the rights to be the parent to your child--even if your girlfriend (or perhaps "ex-girlfriend" at this point) feels the child should be put in adoptive care.  Would you succeed?

Apparently not.  In a recent court ruling in Bakersfield, California, a 17-year-old father, Christian Diaz, was denied parental rights to his own child, forcing the baby into adoptive care.  A willing father was denied the chance to raise his child, just because the child's mother made a decision on her own, left his name off of the birth certificate, and persuaded hospital authorities that he wasn't the father and to keep him away from the child.

Father's rights are necessary.  Cases like this, where a fit and willing father is stepping up to the plate to be a dad, remind us that there is still a long road ahead of us.  Being with our children and raising them is a right we have, and until the courts can see this, we will continue to fight for our rights!

Read more about this hearing on Bakersfield.com.

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Cathy Meyer vs. National Organization for Women on the Subject of Parental Alienation Disorder

Cathy Meyer, a Huffington Post writer, recently wrote an article regarding a statement from the National Organization for Women (NOW) Foundation and their response to the requested inclusion of Parental Alienation Disorder into the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, which is the American Psychiatric Association's guide in regards to medical diagnoses.

While the article takes apart some of NOW's points, it makes an extremely important point in regards to Parental Alienation Disorder, otherwise known as Parental Alienation Syndrome.  The writer of argued response, Tracy Simmons, brings about the fact that she feels "there is nothing scientific about a syndrome/disorder whose only symptoms are a uterus, divorce papers, and bruises."  What Cathy Meyer argues is that while it is a number of father's rights groups and activists that are asking for PAD/PAS to be included in the DSM V, the syndrome itself is not gender specific--a family therapist in Colorado Springs states that fifty percent of perpetrators are male.

Tracy Simmons also called Parental Alienation Syndrome / Parental Alienation Disorder "junk science" and an "abuse excuse."  However, any parent or child who has been a victim of Parental Alienation Syndrome / Disorder knows that the actions of a misguided parent can cause much psychological harm to a child--and can leave lasting scars both mentally and emotionally for those involved.

Read Cathy Meyer's rebuttal against the National Organization for Women.  It is nice to hear a WOMAN defend something that us fathers have dealt with for years, and to recognize that this is something that truly needs to be addressed in the professional medical field to help EVERY parent protect their children from years of emotional damage and feelings of abandonment from the other parent.

Parental Alienation: It's About More Than "A Uterus, Divorce Papers and Bruises" by Cathy Meyer

Finding Other Fathers for Comfort and Support through Meetup.com

Sometimes, it is important to know that you are not the only one going through a divorce and/or a custody case. Knowing others have been in the same boat and reaching out to them is probably one of the best things you can do to help support YOURSELF through what you're going through.

Sites such as meetup.com are a perfect way to meet other single fathers fighting for custody of their children through the courts.  Not only are there specific "fathers rights" meetups throughout the nation, but there are also a number of support groups that meet up in various cities and metropolitan areas to help get dads together to share their stories.

Consider checking out meetup.com for father's rights support groups to help find that foundation to help you stand and find the strength to move forward in your own child custody case.

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