Ask a Lawyer - Archive

I just found out from a girl i had a one-night stand with that she is pregnant, and the baby is mine. I have offered to help her with adoption but refuses to give up the baby, she assured me she would raise it alone and not need my help. How would I go about terminating my parental rights? I have no way of supporting the child and have told the mother as such.

No good news for you, my friend. When the state must decide between the fate of a child and the fate of the man who fathered that child, the child wins, and you lose. Gird your loins. No judge I know would knowingly bastardize a child by terminating the parental relationship without another father waiting in the wings ready to take over the fathering role; Mom gets to decide whether to have the child, but if she decides to have the child and raise him or her, she has no right to remove you from your parenting role, with or without your consent.