Dad Goes To Visit Newborn Daughter, Gets Biggest Shock Of His Life
A South Carolina man said his daughter’s mother put their child up for adoption behind his back.
Chris Emanuel said he met Skylar’s mother, whom he only refers to as “the egg donor,” when they were co-workers three years ago. After three months of being together, Emanuel found out he was going to be a father.
“I was happy, who wouldn’t be happy?” Emanuel told ABC News. “It was my first child and at the time, you know, I’m going to be there. We’re going to do everything we got to do.”
Emanuel, who is black, said he was ready to put everything into fatherhood, and the couple even discussed getting married. But after Emanuel met her family, everything changed. He said they instantly hated him, which he attributed to the white family’s racism against African Americans.
“Like hearing racism but actually feeling it, it [is] totally different,” Emanuel said. “It’s like being punched in the stomach.”
His girlfriend reportedly still texted and reassured him of their future together. Nonetheless, they saw each other less and less.
Emanuel’s half sister and her best friend reportedly grew concerned about his girlfriend’s behavior, so they researched father’s rights in South Carolina. When his girlfriend skipped their baby shower, they persuaded him to join a “responsible father registry,” which would inform him if his daughter was put up for adoption.
A few days later, the would-be-father learned from the registry that Skylar was born a week ago and adopted in another state.
“My daughter was stolen from me,” Emanuel said.
Although the adoptive parents had bonded with Skylar and pleaded with Emanuel to let them keep her, he took the case to court and eventually won her back.
“All I could do was break down on my knees, and I cried and I thanked God for bringing my daughter home because all I needed was for her to get in my arms,” Emanuel said.
After months of fighting for custody of his daughter, Emanuel has now set up a foundation that advocates for fathers’ rights.