Hi,
Writing on behalf of a friend...
The story is this, last year he had a dna test for his 8yr old daughter-and yep he's the dad (from very short relationship).
Since then he's been seeing her every week for a couple of hours.the mother has had some mental health issues in the past & the child has been with her the whole time.
2 months ago she decided to move to spain with the child who now is nine.when she left for spain she only had £200, whilst over there she managed to get a bar job & now has a bedsit.
The child was not attending school for that time and was generally being neglected. The child has recently been brought back to the uk to stay with the mothers friend (whom just so happens to be married to the fathers brother) , until sept when the mother will take the child back to spain as this is when the mother can get the daughter into school, the father wants the child to live with him on a permanent basis,as she is very obviously been neglected, but without parental rights and only being aware he was her father for a year we don't hold out much hope?
Can anyone please give us some guidance on what rights he may have as a father over the child if any and what the next step maybe to ensuring the child's safety & well being.
The father is dovoted to both his daughter & his son from a previous marriage whom he has joint custody of.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

What you need to do is get your local equivalent of child and family services involved. They can do a check to see if the child is being well cared for. If they find she hasn't they can recommend a change in custody.

What do you mean he has no parental rights? Parental rights come from biology. Just because he wasn't aware of the child until recently doesn't mean he doesn't have rights. But the only way he can get custody is by going through the courts.

Hello a:

In the overall scheme of things, I think it's more important for a parent to be with his children, than a wife to be with her husband. Most courts agree with me. I hope he stops her move!

excon