The Record — Aiken County, South Carolina
The eighteen days.
On February 4, 2014, Christopher Emanuel put his name on the South Carolina Responsible Father Registry — something he had resisted doing. His daughter was born on February 11. On February 22, a private investigator served him at his home in Aiken: she had been placed for adoption, and she was already in California. Because he had registered, he had the standing to fight. He won her back — and founded a movement so that no father learns about that form too late.
He puts his name on the South Carolina Responsible Father Registry.
He had resisted it. Registering felt like an act of war against someone he loved. His half-sister and her friend found the registry and pushed him to file.
His daughter is born. Nobody tells him.
A private investigator serves him at his home in Aiken: his daughter has been placed for adoption. She is already in California.
Eighteen days after he registered. Had he not filed that form, he would have had no standing, and no notice.
He contests the adoption. DNA confirms paternity. He wins custody of his daughter.
The exact date of the final order is not something he has published — and so this site does not print one.
He founds the Sky Is The Limit Foundation, named for his daughter.
In his own words
His grammar is his voice. It is set down here exactly as he said it.
“My daughter was stolen from me. I asserted my rights. My rights were stripped of me.”
ABC Nightline, 2015-09-15
“No one can love my daughter the way I can. It don't matter what type of title you have, that's my daughter.”
ABC Nightline, 2015-09-15
“I felt her breath for the first time... I lost a part of me, I was lost, and I felt complete.”
ABC Nightline, 2015-09-15
“If an unwed responsible father doesn't register he is revoking his right to be a dad.”
WIS-TV, 2019-07-30
“You want to focus on preventative measures to remain engaged in your child's life because anything can happen at any given time. It's easy to get outmaneuvered.”
WIS-TV, 2019-07-30
“The Registry doesn't give dads custody, but it does give them a fighting opportunity to assert their rights, cause we still have to prove what a mother is given by default.”
Post and Courier, 2022-02-13
“We focus on the untold truth, and the unpopular truth. And that is that there are responsible, capable and willing dads that are involved and engaged in their children's lives... who want to be in their child's life who are thwarted.”
Post and Courier, 2022-02-13
“Being a parent – being a dad, being a mom – is the most important job under God. Mothers are important, too. Mothers speak life into who we are and what we can become.”
Post and Courier, 2022-02-13
“I wanted to ensure that other fathers didn't have to experience what I experienced.”
Post and Courier, 2022-02-13
“When I look in today's time, everything I've asked for came on the other side of pain and challenges.”
Post and Courier, 2022-02-13