I found today’s Dr. Phil show very interesting as it pertained to Putative Father Registries. On the show, we were introduced to Bryce, a man from Oregon in his mid 30’s. He is now fighting for his baby girl, who is about five months old and living with the people who want to adopt her. The adoption is not final yet as Bryce is fighting for custody of this little girl.

Bryce’s ex-girlfriend, Esther, had gotten pregnant and wanted to place the baby for adoption. He repeatedly told her no, that he wanted to raise their baby. He offered to marry her. He offered to put her up in a house and help her out financially. She turned down all his offers and eventually quit taking his phone calls.

Meanwhile, Esther was making an open adoption plan with friends of her parents. Bryce wasn’t notified of the baby’s birth or anything. Once he did find out, he filed with the courts to get custody but custody was denied to him because of the Putative Father Registry.

According to Putative Father Registries, the biological father of a baby (or even a possible baby) must file his intent to be a part of the child’s life. This Father, his attorney, and even the attorney of Esther had never heard of Putative Father Registries. Dr. Phil made a good point when he asked Esther’s attorney how was Bryce expected to know of Puative Father Laws and Registries when she, an attorney, didn’t even know about them herself!
Dr. Phil continued to refer to this as an “obscure” law and while it may be obscure in the sense that not very many people know of them, it is not obscure in the number of states who have Putative Father Registries and Laws. According to Mel Feilt from the National Center for Men about 24 states have Putative Father Registries.

The baby remains with the adoptive parents while Bryce continues to fight to raise her.

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