Teen sues mom in bid to ID dad – 04/28/06 – The Detroit News
April 28, 2006
|
Posted by ANCPR
Teen sues mom in bid to ID dad – 04/28/06 – The Detroit News
MOUNT CLEMENS — A 17-year-old is suing his mother in Macomb County Circuit Court to force her to reveal the identity of his biological father.
Two years ago, the teen — identified as “Minor J” in court filings — learned that the man who helped raise him wasn’t his real father. Now, with help from that man, who is his legal father, he’s involved in a lawsuit that could help determine what rights children have to know the identity of their parents.
The case centers on the teenager’s desire to know his family genetic history for health purposes, said Henry Baskin, a prominent Birmingham attorney who represents Minor J.
The mother, who lives in Fraser and is identified as Diane J., “owes her son this information,” said Baskin, who acknowledged that he could find no legal precedent that would compel her to provide the information.
“I’ve checked all over the county and I can’t find anything,” he said.
The boy’s mother could not be reached for comment and apparently is not yet represented by an attorney.
J. Michael Kelly, a prominent Santa Monica., Calif., family law attorney and a University of Southern California professional, said he believes the son has a right to sue to find out who his father is.
“It’s an overriding right,” Kelly said. “It would be extraordinarily selfish for the mother not to disclose. A human’s desire to know who their parents are and where they came from is crucial. He can’t say, ‘this is my grandfather, this is my grandmother.’ He has no history.”
Baskin said the case is not going to be about child support.
“It’s ‘Who’s my daddy?’ It’s unfair to everyone not to know genetically what’s going on. It’s either going to be a case that will set precedent or it will lead to some legislation if I can’t sustain the case.”
Diane J. and her former husband were divorced in 1995. The couple was married at the time Minor J. was conceived in 1988, Baskin said.
In 2004, the husband began to have doubts that the teen was his biological child, Baskin said. After the divorce, Minor J. split his time between his mother’s home and her former husband’s home in Oakland County. And he still does.
“The father, who loves this person by the way and is very much in his life, just for some reason thought, ‘Geez, there’s something genetically incorrect.’ ”
In April 2004, the family was tested. Two separate DNA tests dispelled any possibility that the man was his father, according to the lawsuit.
The teen asked his mother for the identity of his father. According to the lawsuit, his mother gave another name — referred to as “Mr. X” in the lawsuit.
Three months later, another DNA test revealed Mr. X wasn’t the father, either.
It was then that the mother refused to reveal the identity of the biological father.
“It’s unfair to everyone not to know genetically what’s going on,” Baskin said. “If you were in your teens and want to go to college, get married and have a baby, wouldn’t you like to know your family medical history before you have a child?”
Baskin points out that even donor and adoption agencies require a medical history of both parents in an effort to ensure a healthy lifestyle for the child.
“It is imperative to know his predisposition to disease,” he said.
“How important the family history is depends on what’s in the family history,” said Dr. Alan Guttmacher, deputy director of the National Human Genome Research Institute. The institute is part of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md. “It’s very useful for everyone to know their family history to the greatest degree possible. If you have good (information), it can alert you to specific disorders.”
That medical background can help someone make better lifestyle choices, such as early medical screenings, diet and exercise, he said.
The worst-case scenario is for someone to unknowingly be at risk for a particular disease they wouldn’t normally think about unless it’s in the family medical history, he said.
In addition, the biological father could be compelled to pay support. But the clock is ticking. A child can sue for support from his biological parent when he’s a minor up until a year after reaching adulthood. So the teenager has until Jan. 25, 2008 — his 19th birthday — to find his biological father. Baskin said he served the woman with the lawsuit on Wednesday and hopes to take her deposition within two weeks to find the father.
“I need to get that information and the information wasn’t forthcoming,” he said.
You can reach Steve Pardo at (586) 468-3614 or spardo@ detnews.com.
Comments
Powered by Facebook Comments
Categories: News
|
Leave a reply
[In addition, the biological father could be compelled to pay support. But the clock is ticking. A child can sue for support from his biological parent when he’s a minor up until a year after reaching adulthood. So the teenager has until Jan. 25, 2008 — his 19th birthday — to find his biological father. Baskin said he served the woman with the lawsuit on Wednesday and hopes to take her deposition within two weeks to find the father.]
Ten to one says this scumbag lawyer is only interested in the “child supportâ€. Why else would the clock be ticking? They can only sue for child support up until one year after the kids 19th birthday; that’s what this is all about. What difference does it make if the kid finds out who his dad is when he’s in his twenties? The only way it makes a difference is if they intend to sue for support, which is exactly what’s going on here.
I hope the mother refuses to reveal the identity until after it’s too late to extort “child support†from some poor bastard who probably didn’t even know he was a father. There seems to be no limit as to how low some people will stoop in order to take advantage of people who are the victims of our “out of control†family courts.
Kevin Merck
“Baskin points out that even donor and adoption agencies require a medical history of both parents in an effort to ensure a healthy lifestyle for the child.”
AS an adoptive parent, I want to start by pointing out that this is a FALSE presumption. Neither my child or her other adoptive friend has any right or ability to access their biofamily or genetic info. Even children of married-to-each-other don’t necessarilly have that access. Example: my husband’s father died accidentally just before he was born. My husband has NO genetic history of his dad – who WAS married to his mom.
And I’d like to point out that many millions of children are NOT the genetic child of their legal parent. They have been made parent by either default rulings on paternity, fraud by biomom, or by that parent placing their name on an affidavit of paternity, which they then cannot revoke when they discover they were duped about parentage. The legal system has manitained that it is “in the best interest of the child” to NOT disrupt the parental status, because that could disrupt the child’s support payments. I have not seen that our legal system places any value on establishing the TRUE bioparentage, only establishing who they can LEGALLY hold accountable for child support. And, if the system truly cared about the actual bioparentage, there would be greater consequences for those who perpetrate paternity fraud.
I have to believe the urgency is also about child support. Most likely so the father can sue and recover also. The mom is of course your classic piece of work of a human fraudster. She most likely will lie, does not really know or remember the name etc. Sadly the talk about all these ‘rights’ to know parentage. Try asking any adopted individual abou these ‘rights’. They do not exist for a whole class of people. Medical history is a joke for what they record in adoption with no further tracking etc.
I will guess that the unfortunate Bio Father will probably remain anonymous as I am willing to mother has no idea.
Real problem here is the woman. Where are the consequences for committing fraud and probably infidelity? Look at the damage she has done to this child and the stepfather. That is not even mentioned in this article. Just goes to show that all that really matters is money. Always follow the money trail. Lawyers and judges don’t care unless some money is involved i.e. possible child support (extortion). Women are allowed to operate with impunity and men just allow this kind of outrageous behavior to happen in our society. Sorry enemy is not at the gates but has already penetrated the walls. GL to all because you all will need it. It is now every man for himself. You can live in denial but the wheels are off and you think this generation is bad- just wait until the kids who grow up in this kind of environment become adults. Just like the oil crisis going on now- small fixes and bloviating from politicans won’t do anything. Only a major overhaul will bring meaningful change. We need to fight for our families or all will be lost for everyone.
My “ex” violated every court order there was, but that was ‘ok’, I get behind on child-support because of being unemployed or having low wage jobs where I can barely survive , and I get 30 days ‘no-bond’, My ‘ex’ made False Allegations’ about me in Court,,, no proof – nothing and I get charged with ‘Stalking’ and I’m a danger to my son, and my Parental Rights are taken away until ‘I’ go through a Psychological / Parental Evaluation, I’m not the one denying my Child the other Parent, Access to the Child, Violating Visitation. etc.. All the ‘Corrupt’ Courts care about is how much money they can ‘steal’ from non-Custodial Fathers and when we can’t afford their ‘fraud’ (whatever) we don’t get to see our son’s, ‘If’ I was to keep my son from his Mother like she has done to me,,,, I’d be the biggest Bastard there is, but it’s ok for her to deny her son ‘his’ Father ??? What a Scam,, a few Lawyers / Judges need a -bullet – to the Head.
‘In the best interest of the Child’ ,,, Yea my Butt.
As an adpotee, I can understand the need to know. However, there should not be any child support involved. Any restitution should come from the mother. How cruel to her son and her former husband. I know that this happens all of the time – but not everyone sues. I do hope that the court makes the mother release the birth father’s name – only to set a presedent for all of adopted individuals that do not have a legal leg to stand on. A very sad fact, adopted children are treated like property. Open adoption in my mind is a wonderful thing. But I am sure that this new generation of adoptees will have their own set of issues.
How come it can be a secret on who the mother slept with and got pregnant with, but with men it’s not only an open book, but an open wallet?
I wouldn’t be a bit suprised if it did turn into a support issue either. Everyone knows that individuals have literally murdered another human being for 10 dollars, so what’s to stop a lawsuit to collect child support from this man. I don’t buy this crap of disease and so forth, it might just be another one of those smoke-screens to make it look like it’s just so urgent to find the father.
I agree that this is probably about child support and more precisely to find out if the biological father can be siphoned for more than the legal father. I am in a similar situation, however, in my case the courts and her attorney carefully woird their motions how they wish to peel me away from my children, careful not to strip away legal custody but to limit everything else; without legal custody there is no connection to the children that I have given everything to and for and most of all my uncondiitional love.
For the brothers that are out there that are the biological fathers, I say we, the rest, gather together and prevent the theives from learning of their existance, lest they find yet another one of our brothers to siphon dry.
I was trying the some helpful data that was referred to in the above article in different websites, however this text was probably the most helpful so far. Thank you.