ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, December 3, 1995 TAG: 9512040095
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A5 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: PITTSBURGH
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
He looked like a father, acted like a father and in all respects thought he was a father for six years.
But a 32-year-old bus driver suddenly learned that someone else had fathered the girl who called him ``Daddy.''
Now he is trying to cut off all ties to the 8-year-old - but a judge won't let him.
The odds are against the man known in Erie County Court papers only as ``Mr. G.'' Family law experts say a legal determination of parenthood at birth is extremely difficult to alter later in a child's life.
Mr. G was ordered last month to resume monthly support payments for the child. He lived with but did not marry the girl's mother.
The case raises an interesting question: If a man thinks he's a father and acts like a father, does that make him a father even if he's biologically unrelated to the child?
Pennsylvania law says yes. So do the laws of most other states. But Mr. G is appealing to the state Superior Court in an attempt to change that.
He signed a paper acknowledging fatherhood in 1987, thinking he was the mother's only boyfriend at the time. The girl even resembled him, said David Ungerman, the mother's attorney.
Mr. G learned two years ago that someone else had impregnated the girl's 31-year-old mother, said Peter Bailey, Mr. G's attorney. Blood tests confirmed the other man's paternity.
The revelation angered Mr. G, who suddenly cut off contact with the girl in 1993. He would neither hug nor kiss her and left her behind when he picked up her older brother for visits, according to a ruling by Judge Roger Fischer.
Mr. G, of Erie, is the father of the boy and pays his former fiancee $546 a month support for the two children.
The girl had been in close contact with Mr. G for six years, received a doll from him at Christmas in 1993 and called him ``Daddy'' as recently as five months ago. Ungerman said she was troubled by his snub.
Mr. G did not respond to an interview request made through his attorney. He has explained to the girl that he is not her father, Bailey said.
``My understanding is that the biological father has made no secret of the fact that he was the father,'' Bailey said. ``With a clearly identifiable father walking around out there, we would like to see some effort made to have him fulfill his obligation.''
Ungerman said the mother will pursue a lawsuit against the biological father if a higher court rules in favor of Mr. G.
LENGTH: Medium: 54 linesby CNB