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In 2014, Christopher Emanuel’s girlfriend gave birth to their daughter. Emanuel wasn’t present for the memorable moment. His daughter’s racist white family denied the black father that right. They disapproved of her mixed-race relationship with Emanuel.
He knew that his girlfriend was pregnant and, out of precaution, registered himself with the Responsible Fatherhood Registry in South Carolina. This gave him parental rights to care for his daughter when born.
After giving birth and to please her racist parents, his ex-girlfriend placed his daughter up for adoption without notifying him. A family on the opposite end of the country had his newborn, thousands of miles and several states away.
Adoption agencies often have difficulty finding homes for black and mixed-raced children. South Carolina allowed families from outside the state to adopt.
“I didn’t know if I would ever see her again,” he said. “My daughter was in San Diego, CA with the prospective adoptive couple.” He says they changed his daughter’s name. In court, he presented medical documentation as proof, showing his child’s name was illegally changed. “This was my opportunity to prove that I was deprived of that. My constitutional and state rights were violated.”
“Before rights are terminated to allow an adoption to occur, attorneys, as well as the Department of Social Services, will check this registry, and if his name is on there, he must be notified,” says Pat Littlejohn, President of South Carolina Center for Fathers and Families.
When the courts checked the Responsible Fatherhood Registry, they found Emanuel’s name listed. Thus, he was given custody of his daughter, whose name is Skyler.
Since the horrifying experience, Emanuel founded a non-profit called Sky Is The Limit Foundation. His non-profit is dedicated to educating, empowering and equipping willing Fathers who want their children.
This is awesome and needs to be told in a real life story!
Movie in the making!
I am so proud of Emanuel for having the common sense to cover his back. That move speaks volume as to who u are as a man. So, I know ur daughter is in good hands with u as her father………. Continue fighting on her behalf even when u decide to get a mate. Remember u r her first love as a male figure in her life. U hve to set the standards very high for any other male to become apart of her life. May God continue to bless u both for the rest of ur lives.
Such a wonderful conclusion. I am so proud of this father. His daughter does not know how blessed she is, but one day she will read her father’s story.
Amen…she will know Her Father was Fighting for Her when she could not Fight for Herself or Her Right to Kniw her Father. Also sadly enough she will also know that her own mother didn’t cRe enough to fight for her. But God!
God bless you for taking the steps to get your daughter. There is nothing like the true love of of blood family who really care, even though there are many blended families who have been even better than the ones you are related to??
When they make this movie make sure to include the mothers who children are taken away by SC family courts who (assigned pro bono lawyers from any industry to represent them ) who don’t have a clue about family law and practices…mine was taken away at the age of 12 and I was demanded to pay child support…here’s the laughable part none of the parties reside in the state of SC and because the child had been with the grand parent for 6 months became a citizen of that state…the dad used this and won physical custody of a child he never paid a dime of child support for…so when you telling stories tell them all…I am glad he got his kid but at the end of the day wonder if this was a black woman who gave birth to this child would he had gone this far….
But she wasn’t Black…All this to be negative. You don’t know what would of been done. Why bring up something that didn’t even happen? OH Just to be Negative.
who said they mother was black…reading is fundamental and you need to take a page from that book instead of being quick to rebuttal…talk about negative…did you point the finger at yourself!
And senator Scott says that there is NO racism in America. We have to let people know who america is.
What? Why would you think that this man only wanted his daughter because she was mixed. That’s some crazy assumptions there.
what makes you think that he didn’t…can you slide in his brain and learn the real reason…
Sound Typical Racist. What you think because she got some white blood in her he would be a lesser caring father. Yoy’re discusting. Look in your brain and clean out the negativity nastiness and racism. Poor you
You need to spell check or go back to school before you send rebuttal…from reading your input you sound like a fool and ignorant one…you nasty comment is a direct commentary of why this country is on the parallel of destruction …simple back and forth dialogue is something idiots can’t handle…case in point
Dear Sir (S) I am a African American Combat Veteran, My daughter was illegally taken from me and put up for Adoption, her mother was a drug addict and did not care, I was working for the City of Newark N.J. at the time of my daughter yolanda’s birth, the African DYFAS worker and Black Female did everything possible to discredit my character, and steal my daughter for a family whom they had in mind, and was looking to adopt a newborn child. I would get off work at the City Of Newark Sanitation Dept. and visit my child daily….no one offered me any assistance or help, I passed the drug testing and when I appeared in court the Judge, Justice Klein asked why she was not told I was a United States Veteran? I requested to see my daughter and was told she had been moved and was adopted, and that my signature was forged by an attorney in the Newark N.J. Courts. I have been trying to located her and file charges against the City of Newark DYFAS Dept. for years, every time I call the agency they reroute my call or hang up, or don’t answer the phone. Please in the name of Almighty God our Father….Can you Please HELP ME????my email is elikereeves519@yahoo.com and ph#610-701-8156. Thank you and God Bless You!!!
What a man, what a man, what a mighty, mighty, responsible man! We need more men like him!
And you Mr Hayes need to return to school and check your grammer….”pot calling the kettle black????”
you need to get a life and you need to check things before you reply…you need to return back to school and get a brain…Grammar check you need a reality check and for the record since we being politically correct all Gene are not men…who needs to return to school now…you dummie
I am glad dad fought for his parental rights and that he was reunited with his daughter.
My son, Christopher Emanuel James, is going through the same similar situation. In Broome County Family Court in Binghamton, NY has his daughter in a Foster Care for about 3 years. They are trying to adopt her because her mother give up her rights and he is incarcerated. I am trying to help him (I use to be a Foster Mother and they didn’t notified me) on his behalf. Is there any way you can help us.
As the biological grandmother you have rights as well. Go for for full custody to prevent them from adopting her out.
I fought for my granddaughter in Louisiana for three years and Dcfs played me for all that time .I went through hoops for them , but they kept on coming up with more reasons why the foster parents could adopter her . I was approved for placement and she has a sibling that my mother and I have guardianship over , but they didn’t care . The system is there to take care your kids
Thank God he got her back. I don’t care what race you are. You should never do that to a child who’s other parent wants them. This is wrong. He and his daughter belong together! Karma will take care of those people.
I wish my grandson had known of his rights, before his daughter was born. He don’t know and have no way of finding out about his child. The mother won’t answer questions.
That is so breath taking to see a young man go after what is his regardless of how that privilege is demonstrated towards his rights. Awesome young man kudos to you my brother.
I’m so glad he got his child back may god be with you both . I applaud you young man
God is amazing !! Just curious if mother’s are legally allowed to do this? Or does she face some kind of charges ?
It is up to the mother to disclose the potential father’s name. She could claim she doesn’t know or it was one of several men. If she does give a name, a responsible and ethical adoption agency would check the registry (most states have them), try to serve him paperwork and as a last resort publish a notification in the paper. The process is weighted towards the mother. Men need to be educated about their rights and the steps they must do to establish them.
stop having babies with these quiet racism
Beautiful ending
so glad he had the registry and got his daughter back, god bless
Thank God he got her back awesome.
Praise his holy name ???? that baby girl get to raise with her biological father..I still feel for the adopted parents who bonded with her..happy for you Dad..
Janet Mills,your reply was very heartwarming,you seem to be the only one who thought of the person who had the little girl! I saw in the article how it spoke of biracial children being hard to adopt out? My sister and her husband adopted a child of their race almost six(6)years ago! I wanted to adopt now that I’m alone(husband passed 9 years ago) but I keep changing my mind! But now since biracial children are harder to place now I know I’d take the chance and if I can give that child a better chance I will set my mind into knowing if the family reaches out to find their child at least I gave him or her a better start then letting the child sit in the system because of her race! So yes let’s pray too for the family who had her! They didn’t know! Hopefully he’ll let the family continue to be in her life,or ones like them (if there are other)that their feelings will be considered if there is a movie ???? in the making about fathers trying to reunite with their children when the custodial parent is being difficult or the system fail fathers like this father!! In all I’m happy for the father and his child! May God Blesses pour out exceedingly for those whi are fighting to get their child or children back when their rights are being violated! ??????????????????
This needs to be a movie….
Heart warming, maybe there’s hope for my family. My son daughter and son are put up for adoption with out his permission.
God will continue to bless this responsible black brother. I’m very happy he fought to have her reunited with him.
This is such a beautiful story with a happy ending. I want to read more about how they are and how it all unfolded. A movie for all the world to learn and grow would be wonderful!
Wow!!! Good thing that you had the common sense to cover yourself. May God continue to bless you and your daughter.
Praise God. I Am So Glad Things Worked Out For You.
Is there a registry like that in every state? That is the information to make public. I didn’t know….unwed fathers need to know they have rights. Awesome ending though we don’t know how long the process took to get his daughter back
What the biological mother did is a crime. Basically kidnapping. What she did to the father and the prospective parents is horrifying. When are these women going to be punished for taking children from their fathers?
I am from Mississippi My Son, Daughter was taken away from him at birth without him knowing and was adopted from another state we were notified about a court date from the adopted parents attorney one week before court for the adoption procedure. We had to have an attorney from that state and found one for a start fee of $10,000 that we didn’t have. So we went to court without an attorney because I truly didn’t believe court would take your child from you without notifying both parents before taken her across state line only with one consent and his name is on the birth certificate as father. She only did this because she was mad at him. But that’s no reason to give your child away when you have 2 already one by him also and we Love him so so much my whole family and church family love him too. I just don’t get it. It seems like kidnapping someone. I believe one day God will let me see my granddaughter and her sibling see her. How can you give away a child and have two already older than her. I can’t believe the judge let this go. So heart broken everyday I pray for her, it been 9yrs. I wish I we could get some help on this because these women need to stop this it’s happening to much we good fathers out there all they want is equal time.
So happy he is reunited with his daughter! God is Good
OMG!!! Can you just leave RACE out of this for just a moment??? Why can this not be about a responsible man wanting to care for his daughter? The phrase “racist white family” was in this article over & over. Obviously the mother of the child wasn’t racist…she was in a relationship with a black man. It was the mother of the child’s responsibility to notify the dad and let him know that she would be placing their daughter up for adoption. There is no excuse for not letting him know, no matter how her parents may have felt. Let me say, dads have been given the short end of the stick in situations like this for so many years. I’m so glad to see that this Dad has started a non-profit to help the responsible dad’s who want to care for their children! Praise God for men like him!!!