KANSAS CITY, Mo. — In 2006, FOX 4 News’ John Holt began a series of stories about a quirk in Missouri law that deemed men “legal” dads, even if they could prove using modern DNA technology, that they were not the biological father.
If they had failed to protest their status within a very short window of time, the courts were powerless to relieve them of their legal support duties.
Many men racked up delinquent child support, and some even did prison time.
Our stories and a crusading attorney, Elizabeth Hill, brought this to the attention of Missouri lawmakers who changed the law, allowing men to come back to court with DNA, compel testing of the child or children in question, and have their status as the father removed.
Hill had worked on one case in particular, to help a man on the run from the law regain his status and return to his family.
This story brings the attorney together with that man who is now “out of the woods,” meeting the lawyer who helped him free of charge, for the first time.
