December 25, 2025
The ordeal started in early 2025 when Smith, a 30-year-old nurse who was 9 weeks pregnant, suffered a extreme medical emergency.
A Georgia father has been awarded sole authorized and bodily custody of his toddler son following a months-long authorized battle that started after the tragic dying of the kid’s mom. The case, which concluded in DeKalb County Superior Court docket this month, has prompted calls for legislative change to deal with what attorneys describe as a harmful hole in state regulation concerning the rights of single mother and father.
Adrian Harden was granted remaining custody of his son, Probability, on Dec. 2, 2025, by Choose Latisha Expensive-Jackson. The ruling follows an emergency petition for legitimation filed after Harden found that, regardless of DNA proof of paternity, Georgia regulation granted him no automated parental rights as a result of he was not married to the kid’s mom, Adriana Smith.
“I simply wish to make certain he’s received the whole lot he wants,” Harden stated, talking publicly for the primary time because the ordeal started. “For all the boys that really care for his or her youngster, that’s all we wish—to verify he’s received the very best and is aware of that I take care of him.”
A Medical Tragedy and a Authorized Disaster
The ordeal started in early 2025 when Smith, a 30-year-old nurse who was 9 weeks pregnant, suffered a extreme medical emergency. After being rushed to Emory College Hospital, medical doctors found a number of blood clots in her mind. She was declared mind useless on Feb. 19 however remained on life help for 4 months to permit the being pregnant to proceed.
Their son, Probability, was born through emergency C-section on June 13, 2025, weighing simply 1 pound, 13 ounces. Smith handed away 4 days later.
Whereas grieving the lack of his companion and monitoring his son’s well being within the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), Harden was confronted with a secondary disaster: Beneath Georgia regulation, the organic father of a kid born out of wedlock has no authorized standing or proper to custody till a courtroom formally “legitimates” the connection.
The Struggle Towards Foster Care
Attorneys at Higher Regulation Divorce Attorneys, who represented Harden, famous that with out an instantaneous courtroom intervention, the toddler may have been positioned within the custody of the Division of Household and Kids’s Providers (DFCS) and entered the foster care system.
“Mr. Harden didn’t have any authorized rights right here in Georgia,” stated household legal professional Melaniece Davis. “If a father has a toddler with a girl he isn’t married to, that father has no authorized rights in anyway, even in a tragic state of affairs the place the mom has handed.”
Lead legal professional Adriana Gonzalez filed an emergency petition on Aug. 8, securing a brief order on Sept. 3 that allowed Probability to go residence together with his father. The ultimate order issued this month supplies Harden with full authorized and bodily authority over his son’s upbringing and medical care.
A Push for Legislative Change
The case has sparked a broader dialog about parental rights in Georgia. At the moment, a organic father’s title on a start certificates or a constructive DNA take a look at is inadequate to ascertain authorized parenthood if the mother and father are single. The daddy should “legitimize” the kid by way of a selected authorized course of to realize the correct to inherit or search custody.
Harden and his authorized crew at the moment are advocating for “Probability’s Regulation” or related reforms that will streamline the method for organic fathers to be acknowledged as authorized mother and father, particularly in circumstances of maternal dying or incapacitation.
“I simply have a look at him, I see his mama,” Harden shared. “He’s received a whole lot of life and a whole lot of spirit. I simply wish to preserve that going.”
As Probability continues to develop and get well from his untimely start, Harden stays targeted on his son’s well being whereas hoping his authorized wrestle prevents different households from dealing with the identical uncertainty.
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