teenage dad help needed

[mumatwitsend]

I dont know if anyone can give advice on this matter but i will be grateful for any advice. Son who is now 15 has a baby with girlfriend we have been seeing baby regularly but only with x girlfriend present.They have now fell out as girlfriend still has feelings for son but he just wants to see baby .x girlfriend has new boyfriend for a week and tells son he is a better dad and she is going to live with him when he joins the army.Have asked if we can have baby for a couple of hours on a sunday but low and behold we cant.What rights does son have (he is not on birth certificate as she didnt want to get into trouble she was 17 when baby was born son was 15 3 days before he was born ) am waiting for an appointment with solicitors but really wanted to sort out amicably as x says if son goes to police she will say he raped her.weactually have text messages from her mother telling us this. Please help if you can

Your son can get Parental Responsibility via the Courts if she won't just grant it, so it's pointless for her to resist. Not saying she won't, though. :(

There's no need to involve the police at all, unless your son wants to claim that the sex that resulted in the baby was forced by her. Was he a willing participant? That you have texts threatening that she'll "cry rape" means you can forget that as a threat at all, you'd just show the police the texts!

I'm sorry, this sounds like an awful situation for you all.

Hello Mumatwitsend

What a terrible situation for you all to be in! Its obvious that the girl is very immature. Well done you keeping the text where she says that she'll cry 'rape' - keep it safe, you may need it as evidence.

I think that you need legal advice.

Your son doesn't need to be on the birth certificate in order to apply for Parental Responsibiltiy (PR). PR will give him the right to have a say in this child's life - he will have a right to say what school it goes to, have copies of school reports, medical reports etc. However, with rights come responsibilities-he will be expected to support the child once he is able.

PR doesn't automatically give him the right to have contact with the child. If the mother isn't willing to let him see the child he will need to apply for this through the courts. Also courts are increasingly recognising the importance of a child's relationship with their grandparents. You could make an application for contact independently of your son's application.

Perhaps you could get together with the mother's parents & see if you can come to an understanding. All single mums need support, a 17 year old more than most. You can offer to pay maintenance as well as a regular babysitting service to enable her to have some kind of a normal teenaged life (this time WITH condoms!)