Father, Chris Emanuel is recently underwent the fight of the century to get his daughter back from adoption. Skylar Emanuel, Chris’s daughter was put up for adoption by her mother without Chris’s knowledge and now begins the struggle to gain back his child. The inspirational story that has unfolded over the past few days has caught national attention and quite a stir.
Chris describes Skylar’s mothers as being an “ordinary girly girl” and went on to say, “she was a girly girl but she could play pool. I could sit down and play pool with her. She listened to the same music that I listened to but she rode horses. You know, it was different. I never met someone of that nature before but I definitely enjoyed the moments that we shared.”
as the story continued to unfold, Chris faced another uphill battle with Skylar’s mother’s family. Chris has spoken out against the family that he says treated him with outright racism and were pitted against him from the moment they met him. The couple at the time would remain strong however reassuring each other that they were going to raise Skylar together.
The tables would eventually turn at about the three month mark of the mother’s pregnancy. Chris’s half-sister Chelsea McKnabb and her best friend Jill Thomason began to grow worried. The two expressed their concerns to Chris that the mother would not be keeping the baby. After speaking with Chris both women went home to research fathers’ rights in South Carolina and little did they know it would be the best idea they could have had.
Through exhausting research McKnabb and Thomason found that South Carolina was a special state for one reason in particular. South Carolina just so happens to be one of at least 25 states that have a “responsible father registry.” The responsible father registry is designed to give unwed fathers a notification if their child is being put up for adoption. When the registry was presented to Chris he was at first quite hesitant but then conceded to signing up after Skylar’s mother neglected to show up anymore.
After only a few days of signing up for the registry a messenger arrived at Chris’s home alerting him that his daughter has been born a week earlier. If that wasn’t a sad enough fact Chris had to face, he was also informed that his daughter was given up for adoption and had already been placed with an adoptive family in another state.
Upon hearing this disturbing news Chris rose to action and confronted the mother and immediately hired lawyers to dispute the injustice that was cast against him. The adoptive parents were also lied to but had bonded with Skylar over several months.They pleaded with Chris to end his cause and assured him that Skylar would receive the best care and attend the best schools. I’m sure you can imagine Chris did not back down.
After three months of legal battles and negotiations Chris emerged from the courthouse victorious and had won his daughter back. With overwhelming emotion Chris fell to his knees, prayed to God, and was finally reunited with his loving daughter Skylar.
Chris was recently interviewed and said the following regarding being reunited with Skylar: “I felt her breath for the first time, seeing her eyes, seeing her touch. It was like, I lost a part of me, I was lost, I was so lost and I felt complete. I felt whole again. Having my daughter for the first time where she’s supposed to be. It’s a moment that is irreplaceable.”