'Unknown' father wins custody of 9-year-old child
A nine-year-old girl who had been abandoned by her mother when she was still a baby has been given court clearance to live with her father.
The mother had claimed that the child’s father was unknown and left her with her estranged partner’s parents.
The father has now won full custody of the child but the mother may visit her for two hours one day a week while she ia at her grandparents’.
The father told the court he took care of the child with the help of his mother although the girl's mother occasionally visited her.
Mr Justice Noel Cuschieri said that the evidence clearly showed that the child should remain with her father.
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28 Comments
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A. Azzopardi
Oct 24th 2010, 21:53
If the father was "unknown" how come that he now came for "his" child?
It does not make sense or he was never the "unknown" father. There you are.
CA Miller
Oct 24th 2010, 13:53
Don't worry - I'm sure she'll have 6 more kids here before long and send us the bill. People should have to get a permit to have children, because some of us probably should not be allowed to procreate.
Robert Callus
Oct 24th 2010, 13:48
It is really a shame that in a country that (thankfully) has an overwhelming majority against abortion, all people care after the child is born is their tax money. Yes, some people do abuse and abuses should be curbed. But never to the expense of the child. Children should never live in poverty, or in an institution because of financial reasons. Even if the mother may have made mistakes (who doesn't?), the child has nothing to blame and deserves a decent life, from my tax money if need be.
Mandy Miruzzi
Oct 24th 2010, 13:12
Now the government should claim back the father unknown benefits which were paid out to this woman !
A Cassar
Oct 24th 2010, 18:22
How are you assuming that this lady has taken any benefits??
E. Mifsud
Oct 24th 2010, 11:36
@ Mariella Galea
That's quite judgemental of you! Could also be that even though they know who the father is, they are no longer in a relationship with them, and, because they deem the father to be irresponsible, they choose to cut him out by keeping him as unknown. There are always various sides to a story, and one should never judge.
J. Mercieca
Oct 24th 2010, 13:53
Well said, E. Mifsud!! Reading many comments made to this article. How dare they speak of situations they don't know about!
@Marielle Galea: Your comments were highly offensive. How dare you insist that the mother either had more than one parent or that she was drunk? Know the situation before you talk. My mum is the best mother I could ever have... & I know who my father is although he's listed as unknown. How about thinking that a father who abandoned his daughter doesn't even have the right to call himself a father!! He doesn't deserve such credit. I don't know you marielle (m), but don't you dare speak of people before you know what's even happening around you! Pathetic!
M Palermo
Oct 25th 2010, 00:06
@J Mercieca I understood that what marielle is saying is in general. about the drunk or more then one partner meaning that its what the 'uknown father' supposed to mean. it doesnt mean it happenes to who apply. No one here is questioning how good or bad your or any other single mothers are. They are pointing out the social benefit abuse there is.
Please notice... you are also admitting your mother is abusing the social benefit system by applying for unknown father yet you know who he is. Im sorry, as good of a case this is or not its still abuse to me and there should be no exceptions in any case.
@All the others - I'd suggest that to stop this unknown father abuse, it should be legal or a legal obligation for the father to provide a % of pay or minimum quota if he has a child... which would be higher amount then unknown father benefit. Proof comes from dna testing. Mothers should Sue for child support. period. this way all the abuse will stop and it will be the father's problem and no more brushing-off problems for the government to support
Anthony Farrugia
Oct 24th 2010, 11:05
Anybody mention DNA testing ? This would also help in getting to grips with the Social Security behefits scam by "single mothers" and "unknown fathers" !
Robert Ritchie
Oct 24th 2010, 02:13
These situations occur all over the world, But thankgoodness for grandparents, because they allways have the wellbeing of the little ones as their main priority. And they often step in to provide a stable enviroment for the kids. I know this because I went through a divorce myself, and only now that I am older I realise what they have done for me and my kids. On the other issue commented on here regarding the unknown fathers, well I have known mothers renting houses from their boyfriends (who are the kid,s father) and the state pays the rent, which pays the mortgage, while the boyfriend (kids father) lives in the house with them! It would make your blood boil and thats only the tip of the iceberg. I would like to think that Malta is a small enough country to not allow this to happen. But sadly it probably is.
Mariella Galea
Oct 23rd 2010, 07:57
When the father is unknown, it means that when she got pregnant she had more than 1 partner, otherwise she was so drunk or drugged that she couldn't identify the person in question. Hence the difficulty of deciding who the father is :)... so if these girls/women are so irresposible why should us responsable people pay for them?
@ Alex Pace -> Well said!
Carmel Garcia
Oct 23rd 2010, 10:35
Sewwa qed tghid habib, imma dik hi l-ambigwita'. Mara, ghax hi mara, tiehu kollox u r-ragel ghax hu ragel jibqa jsaffar. Dik hi l-ugwaljanza li n-niesa jiggieldu ghaliha. L-ewwel jien, imbaghad jien u jekk jibqa jien ukoll. Kulhadd indaqs fil-farm ta' l-annimali. Ligijiet tal-mickey mouse, bir-rispett lejn mickey mouse. Hemm hafna affarijiet ohra kontra r-ragel tafux.
R Agius
Oct 23rd 2010, 11:38
When a father is registered as 'unknown' on the birth certificate, it does not necessarily mean that the mother doesn't really know who the father is. In fact, cases where the mother has no idea who the father is are rare indeed.
It could be that the father does not want to come forward, but the most common case would be that a child is registered as unknown simply for the mother to receive the 'single mothers benefit cheque' at the end of each month, when she's actually living with the father of her child.
Mariella Galea
Oct 23rd 2010, 15:54
at the end of it all we still remain with Irresposable people - both males and females and most of the time it's people who are still very young. It also started to be a trend to have a baby/ies and then live off the government... what these people don't realize is that they are living off us and their own children. If the government spend it's money on single mothers benefits - It will be other departments that suffer like Health and Education. AND it should never be allowed for a child to have an unknown father. Min jghaffeg ihallas!
R Scicluna
Oct 24th 2010, 07:42
@R Agius: You are correct. There are many reasons why a woman may want to register her child with "father unknown".
I am honestly very surprised that some people still think that a woman might not know who the father of her child is!
Stephen Koludrovic
Oct 23rd 2010, 07:45
I assume that in this case the child benefits cheque goes to the father and not to tthe mother.
G. Grech
Oct 23rd 2010, 07:26
Why should these kind of people get assistance in the first place?? The burden of their actions has to be carried by people who work hard to do things the right way. It is outright unfair. Single mothers should no longer be subsidised. They should take care of their own children and solve their own problems much like the rest of the mothers and fathers do.
G. Galea
Oct 23rd 2010, 06:15
it is useless moaning about abuse of benefits without doing anything about it. we as citizens have a duty in the matter. if you know of people who are abusing the system, report them and they will be investigated - if they are found to be abusive, their benefit will be stopped/reduced + they may have to refund. otherwise, don't bother to comment!
jcamilleri
Oct 23rd 2010, 01:15
And how unfair it is on a human being tagged all his/her life with an unknown father, that's even worse. An irrisponsible mother reporting father unknown after bringing a child in this world should be fined heavily for being responsible adding burden to the country and a miserable life to the kid or else make them work like all normal working mothers to earn a decent living.
D.Degaetano
Oct 24th 2010, 09:02
Not all mothers who register their child with an unknown father take social benefits. Some still work and pay taxes. The unknown father thing in some cases happens to be cause the father doesn't want to have anything to do with the child and to be fair why should the child have his surname when he doen't care about the child. The mother is doing all the sacrifices so it is only fair that the child keeps her surname. What if the mother gets married to some decent bloke who decides he wants to adopt her child as his own?? Fathering/ mothering a child doesn't necessarily make you a parent!!!!
Ernest Vella
Oct 22nd 2010, 23:14
dan kaz ta unknown mother allura...jiena kieku naghmel ligi li min jiddikjara lil missier unknown jigi mgieghel jghid min hu l-missier jew inkella jekk ikollha it-tieni tarbija unknown ukoll jitwaqfila l-beneficcji socjali.
Ejjew inkun naqra serji u kulhadd jerfa' r-responsabilita ta eghmilu...mhux min mejjet ghal qatra u min mejjet fis-sakra
G Caruana
Oct 22nd 2010, 22:15
A man has to wait 9 years to get custody of a child abandonded by the mother. If the father abandons a child the mother gets custody immediately!
A Vella
Oct 24th 2010, 16:59
That's called Equality...
Alex Pace
Oct 22nd 2010, 21:18
How unfair honest working married mothers go to work and identify their responsabilities and end up getting the bare minimum of assistance from the government and single mums who register themselves with unknown dads, claim additional relief as well as work illegally, gain income from the dads of their kids and end up having cash in hand for their children more than the working mum who declares her income and states who is the dad, my son for instance only gets below EUR 100 per 3 months as I work and some people I know gain approx EUR 250 in children allowance and deserve this far less than me as they earn income illegally (not declaring this and hence not paying their taxes), but the system allows these people to take advantage and gain the excess. This is very unfair, I wish that this could be monitored and responsible people paying taxes can benefit far more.
m grech
Oct 23rd 2010, 09:40
I totally agree with you on this, I have 3 children, i'm a working mother and two of my children have contimued studying after form 5,the youngest is in form 3, and I too get euro100 every three months. Just keeping up with their school expenses is enough to dry out your income, the allowance is not even enough to cover transport expenses per term. And now with the cost of living being what it is, life has become a real struggle. Sometimes I am even afraid of thinking whether our income will make it to the end of the month- stretching here, stretching there..........
Tonio Aquilina
Oct 22nd 2010, 19:38
How and why can the Goverment give this allowance to these single mothers claiming that the father is unknown?
Fenech MD
Oct 22nd 2010, 18:48
X'ambigwita` - L-omm tiehu il-beneficcju socjali minhabba li father unknown?
R. Gauci
Oct 22nd 2010, 19:22
Gej il-budget, nispera li l-gvern jiehu hsieb dawn l-abbuzi habib. Serq fid-dawl tax-xemx jissejjah.
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