17 month old, One contact, Zero support... Abandonment?
Our 20 yr. old daughter found out she was pregnant shortly after her relationship ended. She and our grandson (now 17 months old) live with us and we physically, emotionally and financially support them 100%. The birth father is not on the birth certificate nor has he contributed a penny or purchased anything for our grandchild. Although he lives in the same state (GA) he lives in another county and has a child who is 10 months old and lives with that mother. He has seen our grandson only once for about an hour. Because of his criminal past our daughter has been afraid to anger him by filing for child support but finally did 5 months ago. She cannot seem to get any response and/or answers from child support enforcement despite numerous phone calls and visits to their office. The 'father' refuses to take a DNA test although he claims the child as his in his threatening texts to our daughter. We love this child and want only the best for him. Our fear is that if our daughter died he would get custody of our grandson and we would be excluded from his life and he might be put in a dangerous situation. Would this qualify as abandonment and what steps would our daughter need to take? Thanks for your help!
Comment on califdadof3's post
OWe have never gone to court... Child support enforcement said he needs to do a DNA test first... which he says he will not do because he cannot afford it... Is C.S. giving us the run around or are we missing some steps here?
Comment on Fr_Chuck's post
OK. Clarifying... Even though he is not on the birth certificate she still would need to file for custody? Would there be ANY chance she could lose custoday? Despite his criminal record/non payment he would get visitation should he chose to visit?
Comment on twinkiedooter's post
Yesterday she received her letter from Child Support telling her a court date was set so on, We were surprised it is set in his county (about 4 1/2 hours away) instead of the county where the baby lives. We are just happy to have a date set! :)