Since you supposely have knowledge about MMA Fighter & Wrestling, you need to write about that and leave the children out of it because you know nothing about what you're talking about when it comes to the children. I know that you say your story is made up, but if you are so concerned about things being accurrate, you don't have any foundation to build on because you have no knowledge about how the laws work and what is required when doing basic things with children. I can't imagine anyone could be so naive on the subject of abandoned children that they would think that they could get away with the things that you have mentioned here, but apparently, you are.
It is possible that no criminal charges would come of this. I realize that the knee-jerk reaction of most non-lawyers will be that this cannot be anything but illegal, but like most anything else the details are incredibly important. That’s why Mr. Knowitall was asking questions to start drawing out that detail.
What you have to be careful about is whether anybody from the outside of the situation is going to immediately think of this guy.
Non-existent... I'm assuming that we're not doing a Biblical allegory here, so I'm going to interpret that as "not on the birth certificate, possible father's identity unknown to the child." If the father is known to the child but has been absent for a long time, it complicates your main character's legal position.Quoting sedaiv
I can see lots of opportunity for internal dialog here, as well as drama between the characters. You could add into the mix prior CPS investigations of the child, and even a possible prior foster care placement, as reasons why the child might go along with the plan, or even her suspicions of protective services and foster care based upon the reports of a peer.Quoting sedaiv
It is perfectly legal to leave your child in the care of a responsible adult, although it's something most people only do for a short period of time, or for which they reply upon extended family (or less typically, a close family friend or parent of the peer of the child) for a longer period of placement. So if the man were to say, "Mom entrusted the child to me before she died", and the child were to back that story up, he would be able to seek services for her (e.g., enrolling her in school) as if she were a homeless child. If he were to try to formalize his care into a guardianship, which would be necessary for certain aspects of care such as adding the child to his health insurance, things would become more tricky.
Authors frequently interview experts and turn to outside resources when they are trying to write about matters they don't fully understand. I will grant, some authors do not appear to do a lick of research and manage to produce bestsellers anyway (and in case you were thinking it, I'm definitely not thinking of Mary Higgins Clark), but the acknowledgements sections of many novels will include experts who shared their time with the author.