State reviewing whether to appeal judge’s decision in sperm donor case Posted December 2, 2016 01:23 pm - Updated December 2, 2016 08:25 pm
By
Tim Hrenchir
The Topeka Capital Journal
The Kansas Department for Children and Families is reviewing a recent judge’s ruling to determine whether it will appeal her decision that William Marotta is not legally the father of a child for whom he provided sperm, DCF Secretary Phyllis Gilmore said Friday.
“We are disappointed in the decision,” Gilmore said. “The law pertaining to sperm donors is clear and was ignored in this ruling.”
Shawnee County District Judge Mary Mattivi concluded that Jennifer Schreiner, the child’s mother, and Angela Bauer, who was Schreiner’s lesbian partner at the time of insemination, are obligated to support the child, and Marotta is not.
Schreiner and Bauer in 2009 posted an ad on Craigslist offering to pay $50 to a sperm donor to help them conceive a child, according to Topeka Capital-Journal archives. Marotta stepped forward and donated sperm free of charge to the women in Topeka while signing a contract waiving his parental responsibilities.
Bauer and Schreiner split up in December 2010, and DCF since Ocober 2012 has sought to have Marotta declared the father so he could be forced to pay child support.
Though genetic testing showed a 99.9 percent probability Marotta is the child’s biological father, Mattivi outlined 10 reasons in her ruling why he should not be considered the legal father.
DCF spokeswoman Theresa Freed said Friday that the department did not hire any outside lawyers to help with the case and the filing fee was waived, so the department incurred “no additional legal fees past the normal salaries of state attorneys.”
A Go Fund Me page has been established to receive donations from anyone who wants to help pay Marotta’s legal expenses. By Friday it had raised $2,425 toward a goal of $10,000.