WAVE 3 TV Louisville, KY | Man takes parental rights fight to Kentucky legislators

Man takes parental rights fight to Kentucky legislators

By Connie Leonard - bio | email
Posted by Charles Gazaway - email

LOUISVILLE, KY (WAVE) - A Florida man is reaching out to people in Kentucky to try and get closer to the child he claims is his son. James Rhoades says he had an affair with a Louisville woman and fathered her child. Rhoades is fighting to get Kentucky lawmakers to recognize parental rights for fathers in his situation. 

Rhoades is beefing up his case to the public. He just put up his second billboard and he has a third one planned for Louisville, but will it help his case? In three years, Rhoades, a Florida State University librarian, says he has spent well over $50,000 in his fight for the Louisville boy he claims is his biological son. Despite what he calls a meager salary, Rhodes says he will continue to pay legal fees and put up billboards. 

Rhoades' second billboard is up on Bardstown Road near the Douglass Loop. Through the billboards and his internet blog, Rhoades is hoping to generate public support for BR-57, now known as House Bill 28. 

"It's a bill that would ensure that all children would have the opportunity to know who their fathers are," Rhoades said.

Rhoades claims after having an affair with a married Louisville woman, she told him he was the father and blood tests proved it. He says she let him see the boy at first.

"We actually had a good relationship up to the point where I asked her to tell her husband the truth," said Rhoades. Once that happened, Rhoades claims he was completely shut off from his son. 

The bill would give fathers like Rhoades, who can show evidence such as DNA, the opportunity to go before a family court judge to ask for visitation and other parental rights. 

"I accept the fact the husband of my son's mother is his stepfather," Rhoades said. "I accept that but, I think it's inhumane in the 21st century to say a father can't see his child until he turns 18." 

In 2008, the Kentucky Supreme Court denied Rhoades the opportunity to seek those rights. Now he is taking his battle to Frankfort and to the streets of Louisville. 

"I do believe the law is going to change whether it's this year or next year and one thing's for sure, I will never stop fighting to participate in my child's life," said Rhoades.

State Representative Darryl Owens, a Democrat, introduced the bill and Rhoades claims it has bi-partisan support. Meanwhile, the attorneys for the Louisville mother tell WAVE 3 News that because the case was sealed, they are legally bound from talking about it. Chief Counsel Louis Waterman told me he takes issue with Rhoades' billboards of the boy and with his blog that shares pictures and E-mails. He says it is breach of a judge's court order.