Topic : 12/25 Parent Trap

How DARE this mother do this to her family! Then have the NERVE to ask for child support! How about this father get custody of BOTH of these children and make HER pay child support! She would be using the "DNA get out of child support free card" then for her benefit! I feel this FATHER has been HURT ENOUGH, and not that it is the daughters fault but knowing you were deceived for so long, and then are being FORCED to be financially responsible is VERY HURTFUL. I believe this father and daughter CAN still have a loving relationship, but I ABSOLUTLY DO NOT FEEL he should be FORCED into taking financial responsibility! That is like saying Well you were in prison for rape, but there is a DNA test that PROVES you did not commit the rape, but we are going to KEEP you in prison and make you pay to make the victim feel better...Instead of getting to the TRUTH of the matter and basing a FAIR decision from the truth...This father is being FORCED to pay child support for a child that was FATHERED DURING AN AFFAIR!!!! What a slap in the face! I feel that if this mother is SOOOOO concerned in righting the wrong, she would make the MAN SHE SLEPT WITH during her MARRIAGE pay his obligation to this child, and allow the "father" who was there for her to be in her life relationship wise....and if the child and the BIO father can build a relationship then that's great too.....DOESN"T the BIO fahter have a RIGHT to know he has a child in this world???????

What is also UNFAIR is that if a woman gets PREGNANT and SHE DOESN"T want the child but the father does, she still has the RIGHT to go down and get an abortion. If she Wants the child and the FATHER doesn't HE HAS NO CHOICE, and he will have to PAY FINANCIALLY for the next TWENTY years of his life. I am AMAZED that a woman can have an affair and get pregnant and still make her husband that she decieved be financially responsible for this child, isn't ADULTRY STILL A CRIME Leagally??? WHERE"S THE BIO DAD in this picture!?!?!?! The one RESPONSIBLE for bringing this child into the world. I vote Give the kids to the dad, make the mother "Financially take on the responbility" of these two girls, and give her a dose of her OWN MEDICINE!

Mother of 7 Misty Flores

Everyone needs to stop and think about the children who get caught in these types of situations.  Yes it was wrong for the mother to hide the paternity but he was in the childs life for all those years.

Anyone can be a "sperm donor" but it takes someone special to be a dad.

I do not agree that a man should be court ordered to provide money to care for a child that is not his own.  I do however commend and respect a man who may choose  to be in a child's life after he has found out that child is not biologically his.

I am 40 years old and at the age of 13, I found that the man I had believed to be my father since birth was not my biological father.  This totally devestated me, and it took years for me to deal with this information. The gentleman who I thought was my father, did not stay in my life at the time, but we now have a friendship as he is the father of my other siblings.  I have made attempts to know my biological father, but he has refused all these years to have a relationship with me.

For years I have struggled with relationships with men, wanting to have the acceptance that I should have had back then.  Unfortunately the repercussions of what my parents did effected my ability to make wise choices in this area as I now have a child who does not know his father.   He is suffering because his father not only refuses to take genetic testing, but has eluded any attempt to be responsible towards his son that he and I both know is his.  For years I have tried to get him involved, even letting him know that I did not want child support, only for him to know his son.  He has refused.

The child in this story needs to have a relationship with this man who in her heart is her father.  A father is someone who loves and cares for a child and has nothing to do with genetics.  After all there are an awful lot of men walking around who are making babies but are in no way fathers. 

In My Opinion

The only thing Enrique did wrong was involving the children. A married man should wear a condom? He should suspect his wife of having an affair and bearing the child of another man? Really?

Maria is wrong, period. She had the affair, she knew there was a possibility this was not this mans biological child and she did not have the morals to prove Selina was his before she pursued and received child support from him. Maria should be ordered to re-pay the support. Enrique should then invest that money for both the girls future.

I do think Mia should stay home and quietly support her husband. Mainly because I feel her physical presence there, creates an "us against them" environment that can only further the distance between Enrique and Selina. 

Some guy out there is Selina's biological father, yes, but as far as we know, not even he is aware of that. Why should he be responsible for back pay? Really, why?

It's sad it's about money, but it is. As all of life seems to boil down to sex and money.

I can speak on this money issue firsthand. Speaking as a mother of 4, two of which we are adopting. Children don't need money to be happy, to thrive, what they need is love, someones eyes they can look into and see nothing but love reflected back, they need a sense of security, they need food, they need shelter, they need clothing. We would be considered poor. However my children have everything they need, food, shelter, clothing, and love. The finances are our problem, not theirs. We could attempt to seek child support from their biological parents, however no amount of money is worth the stress it would bring on the children. We did not take the children on in order to profit financially, we took them because their biological parents finally proved to the courts, beyond all doubt, that drugs were more important to them than the children, and there was no-one else to take them other than DHS or us.

If Maria feels her needs for Selina cannot be met without Enrique's support, I suggest she get a job, or a second or third job, if necessary. Maybe she'd make a better investment of her time in providing what Selina really needs.

One day Selina is very likely to see the injustice her mother is doing her by continuing this battle for money and keeping her life in a constant state of stress.

Women like Maria make me feel embarrassed to be a woman. But then I suppose I should thank her for making me work harder at being the best person I can be.

I continue to be baffled at people just not getting that most (I said most, not all) men simply do not have the connection with their children (biological or not) that women do. They just don't. It's not something they are trying to inflict, and I really don't know whether it's nature, nurture, or, most probable, a combination of the two. I don't think it's fair to expect people to live up to what we think is right if it simply isn't within them.

As a mother of children and the wife of a man wrongfully paying for a child that is not his - there needs to be a law that protects men from women who have disrespected themselves and their children to allow someone other than the biological father to pay for their support.  I do receive some support from my children's father; however, my husband is a victim of the same issue discussed on the show.  He was incarcerated at the time he was accused of fathering a child from a woman he doesn't know.  In the state of Ohio there is no law that protects him or the child from being neglected by his/her biological father.  In my husband's case, when he was released from prison and learned of the allegations, he was not in the position to fight the system although he was already ordered to pay for his other 2 biological children.  We have sought legal counsel and were told that he (my husband) would have to pay for a paternity test to prove that he is not the father.   Having just been released from prison, he found it difficult to find work in order for him to afford the test and continues to pay for a child that is not his because of inadequate financials.  Until he (we) can afford to take the case back to trial he has to continue paying else face jail time for nonpayment of child support order.  Is this fair? Not by any means.  Once it's proven that he is not the father, will he be reimbursed for the money that's been paid up to this point, I seriously doubt it.  However, what responsibility has the mother given for her wrong accusations on a man that she knows is not the father ?- NONE!!! 

There needs to be a law that protects these men from women who manipulate the system and fraudulently accuses men for their wrongdoings.  It essentially hurts those of us women who are seeking support and fight the system to get it from fathers that are proven to be biological fathers of their children.  So both children in the end end up hurt and left feeling neglected.  The laws are their to protect the children and yet women take advantage of the system knowingly.  I agree with Mr. Smith and applaud his efforts to change the laws in Georgia.  My husband has never seen this child or the mother that has accused him of fathering the child, yet we've paid thousands of dollars for someone he doesn't even know.  All any of us are looking for is justice for the child; and if men can be incarcerated for nonpayment, then women should be incarcerated for wrongful accusations.