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I agree with the father. While it is sad that the child went through this ordeal, the gift should be given to a kid that IS dying. Maybe dad wants to take her somewhere on his own dime.
What I find to be despicable is why this reached news outlets in the first place. Did someone at Make-a-Wish want to throw the father under the bus? Did the wife? Did a family friend?
I agree with the father. While it is sad that the child went through this ordeal, the gift should be given to a kid that IS dying. Maybe dad wants to take her somewhere on his own dime.
What I find to be despicable is why this reached news outlets in the first place. Did someone at Make-a-Wish want to throw the father under the bus? Did the wife? Did a family friend?
Well if a father waits 4 years to pursue his rights as a father how much of a dad can the guy really be? This guy could have easily made this belief known a long time ago, and he waits until just before the trip to pronounce he won't sign off because of his views ? Then in another statement informs you he is peeved at the mother and grandmother over visitation rights? I think it's fairly obvious dad just wanted to get his paybacks is all.
I think it irks me a bit that people are actually agreeing that the father should have done this. The guy isn't involved in his daughter life until recently and had to know about this trip before hand. Yet rather then produce an alternative, or raise his own money and say this, he waits until just before the trip to make his moralistic stand. Regardless of the fact if she is dying or not this is a little girl who has had the first bit of her life full of being sick. I see nothing wrong with granting her a simple trip to Disney world that she was supposed to get 2 times before but was delayed due to treatment.
I agree with the father. While it is sad that the child went through this ordeal, the gift should be given to a kid that IS dying. Maybe dad wants to take her somewhere on his own dime.
What I find to be despicable is why this reached news outlets in the first place. Did someone at Make-a-Wish want to throw the father under the bus? Did the wife? Did a family friend?
No, the gifts should be given to whomever the organization deems eligible.
Well if a father waits 4 years to pursue his rights as a father how much of a dad can the guy really be? This guy could have easily made this belief known a long time ago, and he waits until just before the trip to pronounce he won't sign off because of his views ? Then in another statement informs you he is peeved at the mother and grandmother over visitation rights? I think it's fairly obvious dad just wanted to get his paybacks is all.
these are two different issues: The father was right to think the gift should go to a child that is still very ill, but it worked out just fine, cause the little girl is going. There were plenty of donations, which most of us thought would happen. The other issue, what kind of a father has he been? He obviously hasn't been the picture of "make room for daddy" or "father knows best"
As to how involved he has been in his daughter's life, he claims he wasn't allowed to be, that they hid the appointments and her hospitalizations from him, didn't allow him access to her. They claim he wasn't around. Lots of "he said, she said". I know many divorced couples, have heard endless stories in RL and here, and there is no way to know who is telling the truth.
One thing remains the same - the mother and her family took it to the press, he has tried to avoid the press, who are hounding him now.
If he did this just to hurt the mother, then shame on him. She and her family have been attempting to demonize him for sure - there was NO reason to get the press involved, other than to seek $$ for strangers to pay for the trip. She got it. Yay for her. As to those who say he could've offered to pay himself, they didn't read the same articles I have on this - he DID say he would take her, many times, but hasn't been allowed visitation. For the mother, obviously, this wasn't about the CHILD getting to go to Disney, this was about MOM getting to go along - dad only said he'd take the CHILD, not her mother, the grandparents and not mom's new boyfriend.
As to how involved he has been in his daughter's life, he claims he wasn't allowed to be, that they hid the appointments and her hospitalizations from him, didn't allow him access to her. They claim he wasn't around. Lots of "he said, she said". I know many divorced couples, have heard endless stories in RL and here, and there is no way to know who is telling the truth.
One thing remains the same - the mother and her family took it to the press, he has tried to avoid the press, who are hounding him now.
If he did this just to hurt the mother, then shame on him. She and her family have been attempting to demonize him for sure - there was NO reason to get the press involved, other than to seek $$ for strangers to pay for the trip. She got it. Yay for her. As to those who say he could've offered to pay himself, they didn't read the same articles I have on this - he DID say he would take her, many times, but hasn't been allowed visitation. For the mother, obviously, this wasn't about the CHILD getting to go to Disney, this was about MOM getting to go along - dad only said he'd take the CHILD, not her mother, the grandparents and not mom's new boyfriend.
I haven't read much of anything with the dad's point of view at all, which is why I found it difficult to take sides. I think it is a shame that even while their child was dealing with a potentially terminal illness, these two people couldn't put their differences aside and do what was best for her. Either way it goes, it sounds like both parents were being selfish. Did the dad offer to pay for the child, but give the mom the option of maybe paying her own way and joining them? Of course she would want to be there too. Or is the reason the mom didn't allow that was because she wanted a paid by the public trip that didn't include him? That's the only reason I can see going to the press with the story, to make him look like an ass and herself look like the martyred saint parent of a sick child to get attention and sympathy. Even if the father truly believed that his daughter didn't need the Make A Wish trip, it could have been resolved within the family, with the child still getting her trip, and without splashing the family all over the news. I think it's poor parenting judgment on both their parts.
The father didn't go into details - he wasn't the attention seeker in this situation. He released statements, that have been ignored by most writers. And the articles his statements WERE included in, were not widely read, apparently.
It's all about 'spin'. What if the father had gone to the press instead, and let everyone know FIRST that he has been denied visitation of his daughter, because he'd been laid off in 2008 and has been unable to contribute much to child support? What if he said he now got a job and offered to take his now miraculously healed daughter to Disney, but the mother of the child insisted that SHE get to use funds from the Make A Wish foundation to take the child herself, along with her parents and her boyfriend and wouldn't allow the father to take the girl? What if he'd leaked that he signed off the two times she WAS ill, but decided that since he had the funds now, he'd rather not accept those funds, and leave them for another child?
But it wasn't spun that way because the father isn't what we call an attention-wh#*$%. He chose to keep this private, along with his thoughts on the court battle they've been involved in for years. The mother, her parents and her boyfriend decided to involve the rest of the world.
I'll never get people jumping to judgments in stories like this that obviously demonize one parent, while only telling PART (or half) of the story. I'll also never understand why some people can share those FB posts saying "If you care about this dying child you'll hit "like"... so company ABC or Amazing Donor Man will donate a dollar for her care per like, if you don't, you're selfish and horrible"... um, except if the company/person was so caring, they wouldn't require FB likes to donate the money. Sometimes I just want to shake people and say THINK! BEFORE YOU SPEAK OR JUDGE!
The father didn't go into details - he wasn't the attention seeker in this situation. He released statements, that have been ignored by most writers. And the articles his statements WERE included in, were not widely read, apparently.
It's all about 'spin'. What if the father had gone to the press instead, and let everyone know FIRST that he has been denied visitation of his daughter, because he'd been laid off in 2008 and has been unable to contribute much to child support? What if he said he now got a job and offered to take his now miraculously healed daughter to Disney, but the mother of the child insisted that SHE get to use funds from the Make A Wish foundation to take the child herself, along with her parents and her boyfriend and wouldn't allow the father to take the girl? What if he'd leaked that he signed off the two times she WAS ill, but decided that since he had the funds now, he'd rather not accept those funds, and leave them for another child?
But it wasn't spun that way because the father isn't what we call an attention-wh#*$%. He chose to keep this private, along with his thoughts on the court battle they've been involved in for years. The mother, her parents and her boyfriend decided to involve the rest of the world.
I'll never get people jumping to judgments in stories like this that obviously demonize one parent, while only telling PART (or half) of the story. I'll also never understand why some people can share those FB posts saying "If you care about this dying child you'll hit "like"... so company ABC or Amazing Donor Man will donate a dollar for her care per like, if you don't, you're selfish and horrible"... um, except if the company/person was so caring, they wouldn't require FB likes to donate the money. Sometimes I just want to shake people and say THINK! BEFORE YOU SPEAK OR JUDGE!
Exactly why I always have reservations about any "big story" that sounds more like a personal or family issue. People usually have a motive for making it into a public issue, and rarely is that motive a noble one. I think it is possible that the dad was being a jerk out of bitterness, just as it is possible that he truly had good intentions. I do know that if that little girl was mine, she would go to Disneyland whether her dad paid for it or Make a Wish did, but she would go without her face being plastered all over the news and her daddy's name being dragged through the mud.
The father didn't go into details - he wasn't the attention seeker in this situation. He released statements, that have been ignored by most writers. And the articles his statements WERE included in, were not widely read, apparently.
It's all about 'spin'. What if the father had gone to the press instead, and let everyone know FIRST that he has been denied visitation of his daughter, because he'd been laid off in 2008 and has been unable to contribute much to child support? What if he said he now got a job and offered to take his now miraculously healed daughter to Disney, but the mother of the child insisted that SHE get to use funds from the Make A Wish foundation to take the child herself, along with her parents and her boyfriend and wouldn't allow the father to take the girl? What if he'd leaked that he signed off the two times she WAS ill, but decided that since he had the funds now, he'd rather not accept those funds, and leave them for another child?
But it wasn't spun that way because the father isn't what we call an attention-wh#*$%. He chose to keep this private, along with his thoughts on the court battle they've been involved in for years. The mother, her parents and her boyfriend decided to involve the rest of the world.
I'll never get people jumping to judgments in stories like this that obviously demonize one parent, while only telling PART (or half) of the story. I'll also never understand why some people can share those FB posts saying "If you care about this dying child you'll hit "like"... so company ABC or Amazing Donor Man will donate a dollar for her care per like, if you don't, you're selfish and horrible"... um, except if the company/person was so caring, they wouldn't require FB likes to donate the money. Sometimes I just want to shake people and say THINK! BEFORE YOU SPEAK OR JUDGE!
Do you know this person?
Visitation and child support are two different things. IF he felt he was being denied visitation because he had no money - then certainly he should have gone back to court.
I have my doubts that anyone in this article is an angel - except the child.
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? Then in another statement informs you he is peeved at the mother and grandmother over visitation rights? I think it's fairly obvious dad just wanted to get his paybacks is all.
