My son is 17. His girlfriend (18yrs old) just had their child early. The mother got sick with pneumonia and is currently intubated not able to speak. The baby is doing fine and will be going home. Her mother will be taking her home. My son is not able to complete paperwork for the birth certificate without her. They are giving the baby his last name. Does he not have any rights? He is still in school half a day. Does he have the right to go pick her up and bring baby to our house? He is licenced and insured to drive. They did plan to be together once baby was born. They have been dating for 2 years. I know my son is not financially ready to take care of this baby. He does work but not enough to care for a baby, but we (his parents) are willing to do whatever to help him financially for her. I do not understand how do they have the rights to take baby home and did not give him a choice?
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Teen father
- Thread Starter beaG
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Paternity is going to have to be established before your son has any rights. You can try to work out some sort of visitation schedule with the mothers parents but if they willnot cooperate, then your son has to go to court. Now that he has a child to support, he needs to be financially responsible. He should be in school and working a part time job. Offer to buy diapers and formula. Try to see if her parents will cooperate. It is extremely unlikely they will allow him to take the baby home, BUT see if they will allow supervised vidits for now and even accompany him at first. Perhaps this can all work out for everyone even though the paperwork has not bene signed. If for whatever reason her parents are not cooperative, then he needs to go to court to establish paternity and get visitatio, then child support will likely be ordered as well.
jharris352
New Member
I agree with Duraine on most of that post. If you establish paternity you have a right to custody at least while the Mother is incapacitated. The other parents would do well to cooperate because their rights to the child are almost nil compared to his after he proves he is the father. If he signed the birth certificate then he is the father and they don't have a right to keep the baby from him.
jharris352
New Member
Never mind
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mightymoose
Moderator
The girl's parents have zero say in who gets the baby and when. However, if they are difficult, you will need to get a custody/visitation order from the court. You should look into it anyway. They may plan to get together now, but if things go wrong it gets ugly fast.
It is very possible to get 50/50 custody if there is no dispute between mom and dad, but an infant will typically spend most of the time with mom.
Anyway- if you have a visitation order and they later are not allowing your son to have any time with baby because he isn't paying up, then you will have the weight of judge's order when you call the police for help. Without the order they will just direct you to the court for help.
All that said, it is important to have your son's name on the birth certificate. If it isn't there then the first step is establishing paternity as said above.
Don't let the other parents bully you over the baby. Unless the court grants them legal guardianship then they have zero say... as do you... although since your son is 17 you might have some kind of loophole.
As an afterthought- in my area the hospital will usually contact child protective services, who will in turn contact police, when one or both of the parents is a minor. Don't be surprised if they come knocking and asking questions. In my area the DA will usually file the charges for unlawful sexual intercourse due to their age. I don't know the inner workings of it all, but it has to do with the young parents turning around and collecting welfare, food stamps, etc.
It is very possible to get 50/50 custody if there is no dispute between mom and dad, but an infant will typically spend most of the time with mom.
Anyway- if you have a visitation order and they later are not allowing your son to have any time with baby because he isn't paying up, then you will have the weight of judge's order when you call the police for help. Without the order they will just direct you to the court for help.
All that said, it is important to have your son's name on the birth certificate. If it isn't there then the first step is establishing paternity as said above.
Don't let the other parents bully you over the baby. Unless the court grants them legal guardianship then they have zero say... as do you... although since your son is 17 you might have some kind of loophole.
As an afterthought- in my area the hospital will usually contact child protective services, who will in turn contact police, when one or both of the parents is a minor. Don't be surprised if they come knocking and asking questions. In my area the DA will usually file the charges for unlawful sexual intercourse due to their age. I don't know the inner workings of it all, but it has to do with the young parents turning around and collecting welfare, food stamps, etc.
jharris352
New Member
I checked the law and their intercourse was legal.
Her parents have a temporary guardianship right now, but it is easy to break a custody order after paternity is established.
Good luck.
Her parents have a temporary guardianship right now, but it is easy to break a custody order after paternity is established.
Good luck.
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