Teen dad stakes claim to son he's never seen

GRACIE BONDS STAPLES

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Rashad Head wants to be a father to his infant son.

He knows that might not happen, but no one will ever be able to say that he didn't try.

The 17-year-old has done everything he was legally required to do. He registered as the baby's father with the state Department of Human Resources, which entitles him to a notice of adoption proceeding. He enlisted an attorney, and five days after Rashad's son was born on July 15, he filed a petition claiming him as his own.

And yet Rashad has never seen his son. Despite his efforts and those of his parents, Geoff and Pam Head of Lawrenceville, Rashad's son has been placed for adoption out of state.

They don't know what'll become of Rashad's son, but the Heads are determined to see a law enacted to ensure what has happened to them won't happen again.

They want to create Rashad's Law.

This morning at the Capitol, state Rep. Ron Sailor, the son of the Heads' pastor, will announce his plan to introduce a bill to accomplish that.

"We want to make sure," Sailor said in an interview, "that if a mother voluntarily relinquishes her rights, the father automatically has the next opportunity to assume responsibility for a child."

The father of the baby's mother -- Rashad's former girlfriend -- referred inquiries to their attorney.

"I can't respond," said Ruth Clairborne, who represents the baby's mother and her family.

Just days after Rashad's ex-girlfriend gave birth, the Heads say an adoption agency called Rashad's father, Geoff Head, requesting consent to let his grandson be adopted.

Geoff Head refused.

He believes in being responsible, in taking care of his own.

That's what he's tried to do. It's what he's taught his son to do.

From the moment Rashad learned his girlfriend was pregnant, he has stood by her. When they told their parents, the Heads supported Rashad.

"What we did was a mistake, but I don't look at my son as a mistake," Rashad said. "I don't ever want him to feel he doesn't have a real place in this world."

Rashad Head is a junior at Collins Hill High School in Suwanee. He's a good student, a football cornerback and wide receiver for the Collins Hill Eagles.

He met the mother of his son at school. They dated for almost two years. Their parents were friends.

Last November, she discovered she was pregnant.

In December, they exchanged promise rings.

In May, the two of them broke the news about the pregnancy to their parents.

Shortly thereafter, Rashad and his mother, Pam Head, met with the pregnant teen and her mother. The teen and her mother wanted to place the baby for adoption.

The Heads, though, maintained hope.

They turned a guest bedroom into a nursery. Rashad assembled the crib he had purchased, then headed to football camp.

When Rashad returned, his son was gone, and his ex-girlfriend's family refused to talk to him. Not only does he not know where his son is, the courts have rejected his attempts to find out.

His attorney, Leslie Gresham, has taken the case pro bono.

Gresham said women have long had the right to get an abortion or to have and raise a child without informing the father. But when mothers choose adoption, courts have increasingly recognized fathers' rights.

Once a father's paternity is established, "it's not a question of whether he can provide for the baby better than the adoptive parents," said Lynn M. Swank, a Jonesboro-based adoption expert and a member of the American Academy of Adoption Attorneys. "It's a legal question first of biology, and second they would have to prove him unfit. That's been the law in this state since . . . 1976."

Swank said that even if the father hasn't registered with the state, and even if he is unknown, biological fathers are entitled to the same due process as any other individual whose life and liberty are being taken by the government.

"If we were talking about an emergency custody issue between two parents divorcing,'' she said, "the court would hold an emergency hearing.

"In this case, because the adoptive parents have the child, the court is infringing on this young man's status by not allowing him to assert his claim," Swank said.