In re T.R

In In re T.R. (2005) 132 Cal.App.4th 1202 , the alleged father, Marvin, was a registered sex offender who had been convicted of three counts of lewd conduct with 10-year-old and 13-year-old girls and sentenced to six years in prison. (Id. at pp. 1206-1207.) The minor was 10 years old and declared a dependent of the juvenile court based on an allegation that she was at substantial risk of being sexually abused due to Marvin's history of molesting other children and reports of his inappropriate conduct with the minor. (Ibid.) The court concluded that, although the parentage presumption may have arisen based on Marvin's acting in a paternal role since the minor was three, the juvenile court did not err in concluding the presumption was rebutted by his conduct. (132 Cal.App.4th at p. 1212.) The court emphasized that Marvin had deceived the minor's mother regarding his criminal convictions and the juvenile court had found true the allegations of molestation by clear and convincing evidence. (Id. at p. 1211.) "Marvin's conduct was antithetical to a parent's role and was a blatant violation of parental responsibilities. It more than counterbalanced the factors favoring Marvin's presumed father status." (Ibid.) The court stated: "In determining whether a man has 'received a child into his home and openly held out the child' as his own , courts have looked to such factors as whether the man actively helped the mother in prenatal care; whether he paid pregnancy and birth expenses commensurate with his ability to do so; whether he promptly took legal action to obtain custody of the child; whether he sought to have his name placed on the birth certificate; whether and how long he cared for the child; whether there is unequivocal evidence that he had acknowledged the child; the number of people to whom he had acknowledged the child; whether he provided for the child after it no longer resided with him; whether, if the child needed public benefits, he had pursued completion of the requisite paperwork; and whether his care was merely incidental. " (In re T.R., supra, 132 Cal.App.4th at p. 1211.)