The papers arrived in the mail on a Tuesday in December, two weeks before Emma’s first birthday. Kassie was sitting on the living room floor, watching Emma practice walking between the couch and coffee table with Max following faithfully behind her, when she noticed the official envelope from the family court mixed in with the usual bills and Christmas cards.
Inside were documents responding to her petition for child support. Daniel had filed his counter-response, and as she read through the formal language, her stomach dropped.
Daniel was requesting that the court find him to be Emma’s biological father for the purposes of financial support only. Under the section for requested custody arrangements, he had written: “Respondent requests no visitation rights and no custody arrangements. R
