Christopher Emanuel’s newborn child was secretly put for adoption by his ex-girlfriend without his consent, UNILAD reports.
Prior to the incident, the South Carolina man had signed up on the responsible fatherhood registry and has legally fathered his daughter, Skyler. While going through this process, on February 4, 2014, he also made it mandatory that he would be notified in case her mother decides to put her for adoption.
Shockingly, only two weeks later, Skyler was adopted by a San Diego family. What’s more, Emanuel was not even listed on the documents as her biological father.
Pat Littlejohn, President of South Carolina Center for Fathers and Families, told FOX 57:
Apparently, authorities failed to inform the father about the adoption process of his own child.
Christopher registered adding the name of Skyler’ mother, making it mandatory that he would be notified if she put the child up for adoption and that’s actually what she did.
Court documents show Christopher added his name to the registry on February 4th2014. However the adopted parents filed a motions on February 19th to adopt Skyler. Christopher was not added on the documentation as the biological father even though he was listed as such on the registry.
But under South Carolina law – someone living in another state can adopt a baby born here only under unusual or exceptional circumstances.
So, under the South Carolina Children’s Code a biracial child like Skylar fell under that category.
Therefore the adoption in part was able to go forward.
According to local laws, parents outside South Carolina have the right to adopt a child born in the state only under unusual circumstances. Since little Skyler is biracial, she falls into that category. Senator Katrina Shealy explained that back when the law was written, the public was less willing to adopt mixed-race children.
The outraged father decided to fight back and reunite with his daughter.
Emanuel sought help in the court system in Aiken County – Skyler’s birthplace. He commented:
It took the father nearly a year after he opposed the adoption to win back custody of his child.
Thankfully, after presenting court records showing that his paternal rights were terminated without his permission and expressing willingness to adopt Skyler, a judge eventually supported his position.
Emanuel was granted sole custody of his daughter. In no time, his little girl was sent back to him.
The father’s challenging battle inspired him to help other parents experiencing similar hurdles. He started a foundation called Sky Is The Limit, which educates dads all across the country on their parental rights.
