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when the child has never met dad

28 replies

tappy · 11/10/2004 14:55

hi i wondered how many single parents out there have children who have never had contact with father and would love to have talk with them

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KateandtheGirls · 11/10/2004 14:57

My youngest was born after my husband died, so she never has and never will meet him. Because of this, I believe that if there is any way for a child to have some contact with his/her father (assuming there is no question of abuse or anything) then that should be a high priority. Children need their fathers.

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tappy · 11/10/2004 15:03

hi i totally agree but in my situation it wasnt possible my daughter is now seven and i know she would like to see him but he wants no contact surely you cant force someone to love a child especially when the child has lots of people who love her because they want to .

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snmum · 11/10/2004 15:05

sometimes, in some situations (not just abuse) where the child does not see one parent as they would be brought up in a more stable environment just with either the mother or father iykwim

tappy I hope you find others to chat with!

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KateandtheGirls · 11/10/2004 15:06

You mean the father doesn't want to have any contact with her? Then, no, there's not much you can do about that, and I don't know how the best way to explain it to her would be. At least I can tell my kids that their dad wanted to be with them. It must break your heart on behalf of your daughter.

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tammybear · 11/10/2004 15:08

oh dear tappy. unfortunately like kate said theres not much that you can do. does your dd ask over her father a lot?

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motherinferior · 11/10/2004 15:10

I have a friend in your position, Tappy, but her daughter is much older; I know she has found it difficult, especially since her own parents do not want anything to do with her or her children (long story). I do hope there are others here who have children in your daughter's age range.

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tappy · 11/10/2004 15:15

she doesnt ask a lot i think she thinks about it more which is more worrying, it helps me to know that shes better off but she will be older before she realises. i have told her he moved away and i dont know where which is a lie as he lives just15 mins away with new family

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nightowl · 11/10/2004 15:26

same here. dd's dad wont have any contact with her and told mutual friends she wasnt his...although he was too much of a coward to say that to me directly. his parents wont have anything to do with their little granddaughter either...i tried but they wouldnt speak to me. (ive never met them so i dont know what hes told them about me, lots of lies i imagine) when i can get him on his own i will take her to see him once...and if he can turn away then i will be satisfied i did my best. not sure what i will say when she one day asks about him.

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Phoebe25 · 11/10/2004 15:27

I must say, i wish i'd come across this site months ago.
Im a single mum to be, 36wks pregnant with my first child.
Regrettably, this was the result of a very brief fling at work.I had no intentions then, & still have no intentions of having a relationship with this man. As the pregnancy has progressed, i have become more angry with him & more possesive of my unborn child. Im still in a state of denial that i'll have to have contact with this man for the rest of my life.
However badly i feel about this man, i never wanted to inflict those feelings onto my child. He has always expressed a wish to have contact, but as i dont really know him that well, having never had a relationship with him, i've been dubious.
I've researched the issues surrounding paternal rights & am gutted regarding the recent law change.I have also sought legal advice as he has been inclined to raise the subject of DNA tests a time or two & i want to be prepared should this turn ugly.
However, having read some of the messages here & seeing things from other perspectives..ie fathers that dont want to know or abusive partners etc i now feel slightly differently & should be grateful that he wants to take an active part in being a parent.

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KateandtheGirls · 11/10/2004 15:46

Phoebe, IMO, you should be happy that he wants an active role in your child's life. You may be carrying the baby, but the baby is every bit as much his as yours. You don't have to have a romantic relationship, but hopefully you can have a civilised relationship and let your child enjoy a relationship with his/her father. (That will even give you some time off - trust me, it's a wonderful thing! )

Good luck, by the way.

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MeanBean · 11/10/2004 16:36

Sorry, but I disagree with you Kate that the baby is as much his as Phoebe's. He's not carrying it, he won't give birth to it, he won't feed it from his body, he won't get up in the night to it, he won't sit with it when it's ill, he won't give make career sacrifices for it ... he won't do all the things a parent who lives and bonds with a child does. He'll probably do all the pleasant, fun stuff and none of the hard work.

However, I have to echo Kate's sentiment's, Phoebe, and say that if he does genuinely want to be involved with his child, for the right reasons (because it is his child, not to control you), then try and welcome it and make it work. Your child will be happier if s/he knows his or her father, and you will be happier knowing that you are doing the right thing by him/ her. And as Kate says, at least she can tell her kids that their father wanted to see them. They'll grow up knowing he loved them. That means such a lot to a child. Watching it dawn on your kids that their father couldn't be bothered with them must be so painful, and in many ways it is a good thing for you that that's not on the horizon. (Not that I'm saying what's happened to YOU is a good thing Kate, that would clearly be insane - I hope it's obvious to you that I don't think that.)

My children don't see their father because he appears unable to pick up a phone or get on a train. I can't even begin to imagine how forgetful one must be not to remember the existence of one's own children. But I suspect that it is to do with his own demons, which he has to work through before he can begin to think about participating in his children's lives. I just hope he will before they get to an age where they may start to realise that he hasn't seen them by choice.
Tappy, if you want to CAT me, feel free.

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Phoebe25 · 11/10/2004 16:58

Thanks for that advice.
I do understand that in theory, yes the baby is half his.....
I am having difficulties believing this, as you rightly say, the input from the mother far outweighs anything he's doing.
In my situation, the baby wasn't conceived in love though. As ashamed as i am to admit it, it wasn't all together wanted at first either. The pressure was on to have a termination, but as the baby grew, so did my love for it.
All he wanted that night was to get his leg over. It was me who decided to turn my whole life upside down, dissapointing my family & having to put my career on hold. He only very recently told his parents after much persuasion on my part. He's already in another relationship, so life carries on as normal for him.
I'm sorry if i sound callous, but having spent a fortune on making my house/the nursery as perfect as i can for my immenent arrival & after all the love & support of my parents.....Im damned if he gets to put his foot down & dictate my life!

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MeanBean · 11/10/2004 17:23

Phoebe, do you fear that he will want to control your life once the baby comes along? Is that your reservation about him being involved?

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Phoebe25 · 11/10/2004 17:39

He can bl**dy try!
The fact is, i just dont like him as a person. He accused me of allsorts when i was 5 months pregnant & has since demanded DNA tests.
The truth of the matter is, i would never choose to spend any time with him, let alone have him be the father of my child.
He seems to think i should be pleased about the fact that he is!!
Deep down, i feel he may be sneaky & judging by some of the things he's already said, he could make my life quite difficult!
What a mess!

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KateandtheGirls · 11/10/2004 17:57

Don't let him dictate your life, but I do think you have to make an effort to be civil for your child's sake. Easy for me to say of course, I'm sure it is and will be difficult.

Meanbean, I completely understand what you're saying.

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MeanBean · 11/10/2004 18:47

Phoebe why did he ask for DNA tests. Because he doesn't believe he's the father?

Politically Incorrect question, but given that you dislike him so much and would rather he wasn't in your life, why did you tell him he was the father? It would have been so easy to simply deny that he had anything to do with your pregnancy and put father unknown on the birth certificate. It sounds unlikely that he would pursue the matter, so that way, you would be shot of him forever.

I'm not advocating it, but where you have the choice of a destructive father doing everything he can to undermine your family unit, or one who isn't involved at all, I believe that the latter does less damage to all involved. One thing I have to give my xp credit for, is that he has never played that control game, and I suspect that the reason he doesn't see his children is because he feels he has nothing positive to offer them. I actually disagree with him, but respect his decision to have nothing to contribute, rather than contribute negatively. Obviously, the ideal is to have someone who can be a positive and supportive influence in his children's life, whether he lives with their mother or not. But I don't think that's possible without respect.

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Aimsmum · 11/10/2004 21:28

Message withdrawn

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FionaJT · 12/10/2004 10:06

Aimsmum, it's really good to hear your perpective. I'm 29 weeks pregnant and the father has said he wants nothing to do with his child (I last had contact with him in mid May when I told him I didn't want an abortion). I don't even have a photo of him, although I've known him for some years. I don't think he's a bad person or anything and would be quite happy if he did decide he wanted some contact, but I do worry about to how tell my child that it's father doesn't even want to know it, and it's very reassuring to hear that this situation can turn out ok.

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Caligula · 12/10/2004 10:31

FionaJT, if your child gets all the love and support s/he needs from all the other adults in his or her life, s/he will be fine. I think people hanker after a missing father when other things in their lives are missing. Just as some adopted children have a desperate need to find their birth parents, while others are just not interested. Natural curiosity though, is a factor, and if children do want to find their biological or missing parents, that's not necessarily an indication that the parenting they've had is bad.

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Phoebe25 · 12/10/2004 15:18

Thanx meanbean.

He wants the DNA test before he 'commits emotionally & financially' to the child as he puts it. I suppose it's not an entire cheek to ask, seeing as we didnt really know each other from Adam when this happened.....
As for not telling him, i never even considered that at the time. As we work together, he knew instantly something was wrong.Plus i thought he was an alright guy then, he probs still is, it's just me being hormonal & neurotic!!!
Things will work out. If not, i'm holding the CSA trump card! lol

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tappy · 13/10/2004 15:56

thankyou so much for messages especialy aimmum and mean bean i think sometimes i think about it then start to think my daughter is suffering in som way when in reality she is a happy little girl, the last time she seen her dad she was one she doesnt remember so she has never known him, he has never denied the fact that she is his he just gets on with his life and blanks it out. thanks again

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Amai · 13/10/2004 17:57

My baby has not had contact with her Biological father as he lives in another country. I am not a lone parent though as her step dad is great with her. I dont want her bio father to get involved for now though as he is violent and abusive and that is how I got into this mess any how. He knows about her because my doctor said i needed to get her fathers blood type as I was Rhesus negative and the baby may have complications etc in the womb,(this was in accurate it turned out with the first baby). Now he wont stop pestering with texts of his love for my baby, about his fathers rights and even swearing at my bf.


I agreed she should get to know her dad because the truth is out, she will ask questions later in life and he can contribute to her upkeep if he wants the best for her. The fact that i did not consent to sex makes me hate him but i did not accuse him of rape to his face and as a victim I just want to put it all behind me and provide a safe and happy home for my girl. He wont let me though I want him to leave us alone.

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codswallop · 13/10/2004 17:59

Just like to say to all of how fascinating this is and how sad/ heartening in different ways.

Good advice form Kate as ever,

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beansmum · 13/10/2004 21:11

i think many children who only have contact with one parent can actually be better off. i did think very hard about my relationship with beans father and tried at first to have him involved in some way but it was never going to work. i want bean to be happy and from a purely selfish point of view dont want it to be my 'fault' that he doesn't see his dad but i really think we are better off without him.

my cousins, now 21, have never seen their dad. he was married to my aunt but left her on xmas day while she was pg with twins to live with his french girlfriend. the twins are perfectly happy people and have no wish to see their father although he has asked to see them. they dont think, and i agree, that he has any right to call himself their dad.

bit of a ramble, sorry. just dont think that biology makes you a father and in some cases the family is better off without them, even if they are perfectly nice people and there is no question of them being abusive.

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PinkArjuna · 20/10/2004 01:45

I am 7 weeks pregnant by a man I only really met twice. I made a mistake. I know who he is roughly where he lives what university he graduated. I want no contact with him. He made me feel like a supid idiot. I took the morning after pill and it didn't work. This is the only time I have not protected myself and it was sods law. I have absolutely no intentions of telling him about the pregnancy - Someone who confesses to sleeping with women and then pretending not to the morning after in my mind has no right to be a part of the decisions I make.

I know people who know him so I have been dubious about morality - I would hope any man would be capable of being better than he appeared to be. He never rang. Therefore not wanting an interest in my life and gripping his Ipod like I was gonna try and knick it off him tell me he is a materialistic wanker. Frankly I hate him. This will not be a productive relationship in the early stages as I have suffered at the hands of men my whole life and if I feel bound to him I won't be able to concentrate on the demands of preparing for a baby. I know his full name - what year he graduated - his age So in the future should my child want to find out about him he can be searched for. I doubt highly he wants anything to do with me as he is a scared stupid little boy.

You need to do what is right for you and your child. I know it is difficult to be sure. Also the consequences may be less than pleasing....

I am still in conflict myself. It isn't supposed to be this way... I have never been a person who wanted a baby. I have all the maternal instinct of a rock. Yet some how I think to make this work I need to NOT be bound to the father as this may become very toxic mentally. You have to do what you have got to - to manage

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