Indiana man loses visitation bid after raising ex-partner's daughter for eight years

For a child, the person who takes on the responsibilities of a parent can become just as important as a biological parent. But when an unmarried couple splits, the emotional bonds built in the relationship don’t automatically translate into legally enforceable parental rights.

This is the difference an Indiana man learned after an appeals court ruled that he was not entitled to court-ordered visitation with the daughter he helped raise with his former partner for eight years.In that situation, the Indiana Court of Appeals upheld a lower court’s refusal of a petition by Jordan Fleschner to establish visitation with the daughter of his former partner, Rachel Scheid. The court ruled that Fleschner did not overcome a legal presumption that the mother’s decisions about her child’s welfare are in the child’s best interests.A relationship that became familyFleschner began dating Scheid in 2015, when her daughter was about 2 years old, the Indiana Court of Appeals said.