Can You Revoke Paternity and Parental Rights if Father is Undocumented
My question involves a child custody case from the State of Washington.
So this could fall under so many categories, but mainly my friend is most concerned about child custody. Forgive the mass of information, I just want to to know where I'm coming from.
My friend doesn't know how to proceed, but my friend had a child with an illegal immigrant she was dating at the time. However, this guy is violent and cruel, but he can put on a show when other people are around. While they were together, he repeatedly beat her, raped her, and verbally abused her to the point of breaking. She had nowhere else to go for a while, so she stayed with him for a while. She never pressed charges because she is very poor and needs help with the legal paperwork, but she doesn't want to trust a court provided representative.
He has also been absent from his child's life. He wanted nothing to do with his son until recently. He has also never paid any child support other than $100 dollars recently as part of a show. The child is 2.75 years old.
She left him and now lives with her father, but he recently came back into contact with her putting on a show, claiming to have turned a new leaf, but he still treats her like crap. He came over and visited her and her son recently (which myself and several of her other friends were there for protection), and I was not impressed with his show. Even though he was trying his hardest to seem nice, he still criticized her cooking, had her do some of his laundry, and called her a b*tch under his breath when she called out to him from another room of the house. He also has skipped out on coming over to see them several times because a friend asked him to to a bar or something. She looked through his phone messages (as unethical as that is) and read a conversation between him and his new girlfriend, and he treats her the same way he used to treat my friend. One of the messages from the girlfriend was "why do you make me cry?"
So my friend is constantly terrified now that he knows where she lives, and she has a repeating nightmare in which he beats and rapes her, and beats her son. She feels her only option is to move out of state.
I was wondering about some options:
Getting the fathers name removed from the birth certificate. He's here illegally and only hasn't been deported because his name is on the certificate. If it wasn't, he would have no right to stay in the country.
Advice on how to proceed with the criminal charges.
A restraining order placed on him to help keep her mind at ease, though I know she will never stop fearing for her and her sons life.
Any advice you can give? Thanks.
Re: Several Questions. Please Read
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She never pressed charges because she is very poor and needs help with the legal paperwork, but she doesn't want to trust a court provided representative.
It costs nothing to call the police and report a crime. After that, the prosecutor takes care of the prosecution, again, at no cost to the victim.
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Getting the fathers name removed from the birth certificate. He's here illegally and only hasn't been deported because his name is on the certificate. If it wasn't, he would have no right to stay in the country.
If he is the father, she has no right to even consider removing his name. After all, it is as much his child as it is hers.
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Advice on how to proceed with the criminal charges.
when a crime occurs, call the police.
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A restraining order placed on him to help keep her mind at ease, though I know she will never stop fearing for her and her sons life.
look here under protective orders
Re: Several Questions. Please Read
Couple of things.
Trust me, being on the birth certificate is NOT the only reason he's here - I have no idea who told you that, but it's not accurate at all. If he's deportable, he's deportable. He cannot obtain immigration benefits from his child until the child is 21.
Second, it's unfortunately unlikely that - without proof - Mom can successfully obtain a rape conviction.
Third, even if she did he would still have rights to his child.
Fourth, she SERIOUSLY needs to leave his phone alone. But you all know that. :)
Finally, without a court order for visitation Mom doesn't have to allow him access to the child. Likewise Dad doesn't have to pay a cent in child support unless he's ordered to do so.
However, the fact that she HAS allowed him to visit might suggest to the court that she's not actually that afraid of him; and depending on the timing of when/if she files her filing could be seen as a purely retaliatory measure on her part.
She should also seek therapy to help her.