Illinois residents may remember actor Jason Patric from the cult classic vampire movie The Lost Boys or as being one of the many men actress Julia Roberts once dated. Today, however, Patric’s been making the talk show rounds for a very different reason as he fights to gain parental and custody rights to his 4-year-old son.
For almost 10 years, Patric was involved in a romantic relationship with a woman named Danielle Schreiber. During that time, Patric contends the couple’s attempts to naturally conceive a child proved unsuccessful. The couple split and Patric, knowing Schreiber wanted a child, volunteered to donate his sperm so an in-vitro fertilization procedure could be performed.
In 2009, the biological child of both Schreiber and Patric was born. At the time of the child’s birth, Patric’s name was not included on the official birth certificate. The birth of their son brought the couple back together and for two years they lived together as a family during which time Patric lovingly helped raise his son.
In 2012, the couple broke up. While Patric took steps to gain custody rights to this son, Schreiber obtained a restraining order which bars Patrick from seeing his son. Today, Patric has embarked on a very public campaign to gain parental and custody rights to his son and has even filed for full child custody.
Patric’s case has gained attention from the media as well as fathers’ rights advocates who contend the actor has every right to be part of his son’s life. While some fear a legal ruling in Patric’s favor may open the floodgates with regard to sperm donors and parental right and obligations, others believe this case to be extremely unique in that Patric had a romantic relationship with the mother both before and after the child’s birth and acted in every capacity as a father.
We’ll continue to provide additional details about this case and the child custody battle as matters develop.
Source: The Globe and Mail, “Jason Patric’s custody battle a cautionary tale on parental rights,” Leah Mclaren, May 8, 2014IMDB.com, “Jason Patric,” 2014
