Question
My daughter is 15 months old and her father has not seen her since the day she was born (for 5 min). He has never attempted to contact me or her and I never went to court for child support. What are his rights if in the future he decides he wants to see her?
Answer
You do not say whether you and the father signed a declaration of paternity (I'm presuming you are not and were not married). Unless you both signed the paternity papers, his current rights are no different from any stranger on the street. The policy of the State of California, however, is that every child have two legal parents and regular and frequent contact with both parents, whenever possible and not harmful to the child. For that and other policy reasons, the father at any time can petition the court to make a determination of paternity. When she is old enough, she will have the right to initiate the process too, if she wanted to, and so could you at any time. Now a days a simple "CSI" style cheek swab of man and child will generally settle the matter. If and when someone petitions the court and he is established to be the father, from then on he will have the full rights, and responsibilities, of any father. Custody and support issues would be determined basically the same as if you had been married and he walked away when she was born.
