A Father's Silent Struggle

I have a thirteen year old daughter I've never met. Not once. Not even in the

hospital when she was born. Her mother made sure of that. We broke up during

the pregnancy and she told me if I ever tried to see our daughter she'd make my life hell.

She kept that promise. I wasn't on the birth certificate. Didn't know her name until the child

support papers came six months later. That's how I found out I had a daughter. Through a court

document demanding money for a child I'd never held. I paid every month for thirteen years.

Never missed a payment. But money doesn't buy you the right to know your own kid apparently.

I hired lawyers three different times trying to get visitation rights. Each time her mother