In the heart of Hillsborough County, Florida, a father’s love endures a heart-wrenching ordeal.
Brandon Marteliz, standing in the bedroom of his daughter he’s never met, struggles to hold back tears.
“It’s hard,” he confesses.
“Sometimes I can come in here, and sometimes I can’t.”
His daughter, now almost two, remains a stranger to him. Marteliz recalls preparing for her arrival with books, toys, and clothes, now considering giving them away as she outgrows them.
The story of Brandon Marteliz is a poignant tale of a father’s love and a system that seems to have failed him.
Just days before the birth of his daughter, he was there, hands on the mother’s stomach, talking to his unborn child.
They had even picked out her name together.
But what followed was a series of events that turned his anticipation into a nightmare.
The day before his daughter’s birth, Marteliz texted the mother, inquiring about her hospital visit.
The response he got was vague, and then silence.
The next news he received was shattering – he was told his daughter had passed away from sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).
Marteliz, unable to accept this, searched hospitals frantically, only to be turned away.
The twist in the tale came three weeks later.
The mother sent Marteliz two texts: “I have her” and “I got the baby.”
This revelation marked the beginning of a new struggle for Marteliz.
He learned from a CPS worker about a newborn alive and connected to an adoption agency mentioned by the mother.
“I’m the father, I’m her dad, I can take a test, I can prove I’m her dad, my daughter’s alive,” Marteliz recalls thinking.
Marteliz is now embroiled in a custody battle, with his daughter placed with prospective adoptive parents through Heart of Adoptions.
Court documents reveal that the day after his daughter was born, the mother consented to the adoption, naming Marteliz as a potential father.
However, the adoption agency argued that Marteliz’s parental rights were not necessary to terminate due to several technicalities, including his absence on the birth certificate and a little-known state registry for fathers.
Marteliz, determined to fight for his daughter, filed a petition to determine paternity and registered as the father the same month she was born.
“I am willing to do whatever it takes to be given custody of my daughter and be in her life,” he stated in court records.
Despite his efforts, he faced opposition, with the adoption agency’s attorney asserting that Marteliz was given all his legal rights, a statement Marteliz vehemently disagrees with.
The story of Brandon Marteliz is not unique in Tampa Bay.
Similar cases have emerged, like that of Ulysess Carwise, still fighting for his daughter five years after she was placed for adoption without his knowledge.
These stories highlight a legal system that seems to favor adoption agencies, often leaving fathers like Marteliz and Carwise in prolonged battles for their children.
In October, a judge ruled that since Marteliz had not provided financial or medical support since the child’s birth, his consent for adoption was not required.
“She should be here in this house,” Marteliz laments.
“I’m the one who can love her. Nobody can do that like I can.”
Despite the closed window for appeal, Marteliz vows to continue his fight.
Marteliz’s struggle is a call to action for reform in adoption laws, especially concerning unmarried fathers.
“There’s a lot of fathers out there that are being robbed, that are good dads, that would — that are great dads. Something needs to be done about this. We need some help,” Marteliz pleads.
His story is a testament to a father’s unwavering love and the complexities of adoption laws that often overlook the rights of biological fathers.
To learn more about this story watch the video below.
Please SHARE this with your friends and family.
