Mentally Ill Parents - Paternity

[POC]

Soc,

A person very close to me is a manic-depressive. He is on permanent disability from the military. He has been named as the father to a child. The mother is a manic too. She is in jail and the baby has been in foster care since birth. He has a court date regarding the child in a month. There have been discussions of a member (sister) in his family possibly trying to adopt the child. But, her family has not decided if they are ready for that. There would undoubtedly be problems with him and the child. When he is good he is great. When he is bad, well, he's a manic-depressive.

Yes, he and she had been a couple. But, it is not clear that he is in fact the father. The military has assigned a bank to be in charge of his finances, pay his bills, etc... He has proven incapable of managing his money himself. Also, the mother, baby, and suspected father are all in Colorado. His family is in Florida.

Q. 1) Would his family have the first opportunity to adopt the child?

Q. 2) Does his bank have fiduciary responsibilty to him, or is it merely required to pay his bills as best it can? I'm not sure if that is important or not, but I'm wondering if the bank would be compelled in any way to ask for a DNA test on his behalf to establish paternity. If the bank were truly looking out for his financial well being, it only seems reasonable that it would require proof that he is responsible for a bill, in this case 18 years of child support.

Q. 3) If the child is put up for adoption, would both parents still have a duty to provide for the child?

Q. 4) If the family adopts the child, would that leave either parent with rights to the child if somehow they were later determined to be fit parent(s)?

Q. 5) Is there any sort of statute of limitations for questioning paternity in this type of situation, especially given the documented inability of him to make his own decisions?

Q. 6) Does his family have grounds request a DNA test to determine paternity, even if they do not have other rights to act on his behalf? Again, if the child is not blood related they would not consider adoption. But, if the baby is blood related that would change their thought process. But, they don't know what to do since they are uncertain if the baby is related, or not.

Those are just the questions I can think of. Any other insight you might be able to lend would be appreciated. His family wants to do the best it can. But, under the circumstances it has no clue as how to go about it.

[socrateaser]

...Section 10.