Topic : 12/25 Parent Trap

What I was hoping to see out of this show...is a better way to handle this for the child...how and when do you tell the child the truth...this was totally about child support...there is so many more issues/problems with this situation...medical...bioligical...the biological father...his family and the fact he doesn't know he has a child...the father that thought he had a child...and the family that thought she was theirs...it doesn't change your love for the child...but what about everything and everyone involved...when all could have been the truth from the get go...THE TRUTH...ISN'T THAT THE BEST POLICY IN EVERY SITUTATION...WHY DO WOMEN GET AWAY WITH THIS...THIS HURTS SO MANY PEOPLE...THERE IS SO MUCH MORE INVOLVED THAN JUST MONEY...Dr Phil needs to do another show geared toward the mental aspects of this...YES THIS IS FRAUD...BUT NOT TO THE MAN...TO THE CHILD...EVERY CHILD DESERVES TO KNOW THE TRUTH...SO HOW DO YOU DEAL WITH THAT...WHEN THE mother is responsible...she committed fraud to her child...so how should she be held accountable for her child...adults should be able to handle this...WHAT ABOUT THE CHILD!!!

As a parent of two children through adoption, I believe that the mother was way off on this one. She should have been honest from the get go. There are people out there who are willing to take on the responsibility of raising and paying for a child without being biologically related to them. Most of us do that knowing the facts up front,  through step family situations. I agree with the gentleman on the show that stated that Enrique and Selena should be allowed to have a relationship without a court order. I don't know that Enrique handled the situation properly, but the fault for this one falls on the mother.

It is reprehensible that women do this sort of thing.  I hope Dr Phill will do another show about men who want to be parents, want a relationship with their children, but are blocked at every turn.  I know of at least three men who tried to do the right thing for their children. The system is so slanted and is not for the "best interest of the child"  If they were, they would have more rights for the father including enforced visitation rights, and realizing that the mother is not always the best placement for children. 

My boyfriend has been through this exact situation.  He and his ex-girlfriend had 2 children together.  When my boyfriend became suspicious that one of the children may not be his, he took both children for a paternity test, and found out that neither child was his (at the time they were around ages 6 and 4).  The difference is that he decided to maintain his relationship with both children.  Although they were young and perhaps couldn't fully understand, the children were told, as everyone involved felt it was important that they were aware of the truth.  Their own fathers have never become involved, although they are aware that they have children.  That was around 7 years ago, and to this day both children still call him "dad", we go to ballgames, he goes to parent-teacher meetings, he buys school clothes for them, and does everything a dad should do.  Luckily, their mother is satisfied (as she should be) with what he is providing for them, both emotionally and financially, and they have left the legal system out of it.  I don't think the men should have ANY legal obligation to support the children, but it is hard to understand how morally any man can feel right about walking completely away from a child that they loved as their own for so many years.

Thats all well and good either way really. I just think that when the attorneys for "fathers"  said that these men had no responsibility after 9 years was crap... they OBVIOUSLY admit to sleeping with the women . There are ways that a man can keep from getting a woman pregnant. Men should be held accountable for sleeping with a woman. If you were not having unprotective sex with a woman then you know you are not the FATHER! And shouldnt you know the persojn you are having sex with? Men are not victems they put themselves in that situation... MAN UP!