Quote From: w2ngmzDr.Phil:
I applaud your courage in bringing the controversial issue of paternity fraud to the public. It is a crime that has many victims, the duped father, the child whose life is completely changed, the siblings of that child, and the malevolent mother who continues to line her pockets as a result of lies and deceit.
I am a victim of paternity fraud in two ways, at age 53 I found out that I was adopted by my grandparents, that my sister is my real mother and I have no idea who my father is. Before that however, I became the 2nd wife of a man who thought he had 3 children. It turned out that he was the victim of paternity fraud and the youngest child is not his biological child. Like Enrique and Maria they divorced and he became responsible for child support. And the youngest child looked like my husband. In fact we had been featured in an issue of Mens Journal magazine and when the reporter asked to see some family pictures I saw a picture of my husbands former best friend, the man who fathered the youngest child born of his marriage, and asked him David, when were you that heavy? My husband David replied that the picture was of Jerry and his wife Sybil on the beach. So looks do not always reveal a childs parentage.
Maria knew all along that there was another candidate for biological father sand paved the way to have Enrique accept the child as his and to not ask questions. The damage that Maria has done to this child is not even at the tip of the iceberg. What happens if the child eventually gives birth to a child with a genetic defect that does not run in her family, such as happened to Morgan
Wise who found out that 3 of the 4 children he believed were his were not because they were afflicted with a genetic disease for which he did not carry the recessive gene. Or when the child turns 50 and all the aches and pains and illnesses such as heart disease, high cholesterol or others start happening and the child had no medical knowledge of her fathers background.
Marriage and support of children is a contract and no contract is enforceable if done by fraud. Maria defrauded Enrique so he has no responsibility to the child once he is divorced. He has acted In Parentis Locus during the marriage and provided support. That is all that is required, he is nothing more than a stepfather.
And if as Maria states, it is all about Enrique having to pay child support then why is he not disputing it for the child that is his biological child. I assume the older girl is his, there was no mention of a DNA test. The fact that Enrique has an MD came out at the end of the show, and it is the perfect case of father shopping. Enrique could offer more financial stability then the man Maria was cheating with, so she took the logical decision, stayed with the man that had more money and lied to him
As far as Enrique telling the child that he is not the biological daughter it is obvious that in 10 years plus the year that Maria was carrying the child was not enough time for Maria to reveal the truth.
Who would have told the child who deserves and has every right to know the truth about her biological heritage? In my husband, David Ziskinds case he confronted his ex-wife with the truth and she denied it, but told his two older children that your father is saying that your little sister is not his to get out of paying child support. If my husband wanted to get out of paying child support, why would he not say all three children are not his? His older daughter called him up and said that if you do not tell Natalie we will. So he told her over the phone because once Sybil Hart knew that her ex-husband was aware of the truth she ran to Texas from Miami with the children. In fact the children had less then a weeks notice that they were moving. We only found out when Allison, the oldest child called her father crying that Mommy was moving them in two days. When David told the youngest child he was put in jail for contempt of court, but we got his conviction overturned. All the information can be found at http://florida.paternityfraud.com or through Carnell Smiths web link.
As for Enrique no longer seeing the child that was not his he had no other choice if he did not want to be held legally responsible for her. Once he knew the truth he could no longer act as her father. If he did the law would be that he accepted the truth and continued to act as her father. He would never be able to be freed from the legal responsibility if he maintained a relationship.
Mia, the second wife was demonized unfairly. She and Enrique may want to have their own children, and yet the money would go to the children of his first marriage before the children of the second marriage would receive a fair and equal amount of parental support. The child support system creates and elite class of children and a secondary class, those of the 2nd marriage whose children are always the last to be considered. Isnt it amazing that Mia and Enrique would be more responsible for a child that has no blood relation to either of them over their own blood children? Such is the mess that the child support system has created.
Dr.Phil, I have worked extensively with Carnell Smith and while he has been able to be liberated from the family court system, we have not. My husband and I will be paying child support because of this fraud well into our retirement years. The Courts do not look upon the duped dad as a victim, the women is always the victim, even if she appears before the court with unclean hands.
As far as Gloria Allred and her famous cases, you conveniently forgot to mention that Amber Frey way a paternity fraud perpetrator. She lied about who fathered her child and victimized an innocent man. That alone should put her testimony in the murder case in question.
The way to solve this problem so that it no longer happens is to have a DNA test at birth, or at the very least, upon filing a divorce or child custody case. We no longer rely on English Common Law for most of our legal system. Why in the face of science do we not get rid of the law based upon the women being married to convey legality of the child? if DNA can get a man out of jail for rape or off death row why are men forced to pay child support when they are not the father?
If Gloria Allred wants women to be equal before the law and on the legal playing field, then why does she say that it is all right for women to profit through lies and deceit?
Marias new husband Chris should be careful. If Maria committed fraud once she will do it again. And if Maria is really concerned with the best interests of her child rather than lining her pockets with illegally gotten gain then she would make sure to find the childs biological father and make him step up to the plate, as the saying goes. But Maria does not have her childrens best interests at heart, she is merely crying crocodile tears and playing the victim. She is the victimizer and she needs to be punished.
Nadine G.Mendelsohn-Ziskind
Florida Citiens Against Paternity Fraud
I agree with everything that was said here. I could not have said it better.
(Original Air Date: 10/29/07) Fraud. lies. conspiracy. They may sound like the latest Washington scandal, but these are allegations of exes at war over child support. Dr. Phil's guests claim they became victims of the perfect crime when they were led to believe they fathered a child that was not biologically their own and were forced to pay. First up, Enrique says he was shocked and angered to discover he was not the father of his youngest daughter, Selina, and that she was conceived during his ex-wife, Maria's, adulterous affair. Maria says he raised Selina but then abandoned her to save money. Why does Maria say Enrique's current wife is to blame for the fractured relationship? Next, 13-year-old Selina speaks one on one with Dr. Phil. Will she decide to let the man she once called Daddy back in her life? Then, Carnell Smith, who uses the online moniker, "Man4Justice," suffered a similar fate to Enrique, and but he fought and won. He says he's tired of seeing women trap men and get away with it. A heated debate ensues between him and feminist attorney, Gloria Allred, who argues that men like Enrique should continue to act as the father ... and continue paying! Talk about the show here.
