I’ll give you the story in shortest possible way. Man donates sperm to lesbian couple. Lesbian couple has baby. Break up. Single mom applies for welfare because not only does she have her biological child but a number of adopted children. Now, the county is making the sperm donor Dad pony up because otherwise the county has to pay.
The dude signed away all parental rights. But not responsibilities it would seem.
If this county were searching for a way to scare men into not donating sperm in one move, it couldn’t have come up with a better way to do so.
The three signed a legal document which clearly stated that the dude would have no rights to the child, according to The Daily Mail.
On October 3, 2012, attorney Mark McMillan filed a petition on behalf of the Department of Children and Families seeking a ruling that Marotta is the father of Schreiner’s child and owes a duty to support her.
It said the department provided cash assistance totaling $189 for the girl for July through September 2012, and had paid medical expenses totaling nearly $6,000.
Schreiner had allegedly been put under pressure to reveal Mr Marotta’s name so that her daughter could continue to have health care.
The legal agreement that the three made in 2009 was deemed invalid by Kansas state because they did not use a certified doctor for the insemination.
This seems like a pretty specious reason to invalidate the contract but let’s face it, the kid is his. That’s not something you can sign away in reality.
Hey, maybe the father could actually get involved in the kid’s life, not just financially. That’d be a crazy thought, huh? A kid with a mother and a father who both love him? Weird, huh?
December 31, 2012 at 5:59 pm
Had she wanted to abort the child, however, he would have had no say whatsoever.
December 31, 2012 at 6:38 pm
I wonder if he would've had to pay for the abortion though.
December 31, 2012 at 6:58 pm
Yesterday's homily at a church I was visiting in Oakland diocese was about this very thing. Rights vs responsibility, duties and obligations. The priest, who is from Nigeria, mentioned how the pews are empty because the family is fractured. Nothing more fracturing than being made in a petri dish.
I thanked Fr. after the mass, for telling the Truth.
Lord give us holy priests that are not afraid of showing us the way to heaven and giving us Jesus, Body Blood Soul and Divinity.
December 31, 2012 at 8:11 pm
Just as a legal standpoint, it makes little sense because what about a case where a biological parent gives the child up for adoption. Then the adopted couple divorces or tragedy befalls with one parent dying. Now the single parent is in need of financial support. States will seek to pass that responsibility to the biological parent?! Now how is that now a contract, unless the contract stated it would only be valid if a certified doctor did the unatural insemination, he still signed a contract giving up his parental rights to that child just as a parent who gives up their child in adoption.
Artificial insemination is wrong and playing God!
January 1, 2013 at 1:11 am
Matt, Be careful–you're frivolity may make people go astray. The fact that sperm donation is immoral should make readers of this blog avoid it, not because of some convoluted scenario that isn't likely to pan out. Every child has a right to know his mother and father, and be raised by them. We know this doesn't always happen, because we live in a fallen world. But you are leading people to believe the reason to avoid it is so they won't get burned.
January 1, 2013 at 1:16 am
That should read "your" frivolity. I know people who call themselves good Catholics who have resorted to sperm donation. In our upside-down world, with poor catechesis, they didn't even consider that it might be immoral–even though they provide the donor with porn to yield his commodity!
It is all evil and tawdry and disgusting.
January 1, 2013 at 4:15 pm
If they didn't follow the protocol on having a Dr. involved, they probably also missed other things, perhaps a required court filing; without the Dr. they may have needed to go through a formal process for the guy to waive parental rights. I don't think this would affect typical sperm donor situations.
January 1, 2013 at 5:25 pm
Wait a minute! Does not the homosexual agenda say that no father is needed for lesbian couples? Or no mother if the couple is sodomites? But when money is wanted, all of a sudden it is an issue. Sick all around. Poor children caught in the web of lust, lies, and immorality.
January 1, 2013 at 5:39 pm
Magdalene, it's actually the county demanding the father's name, not the leftover lesbian. Oh, and this was arranged via Craigslist which puts a whole different spin on it.