TOPEKA, Kan. - A Topeka couple who found a sperm donor online supports the man's fight against Kansas' request that he pay child support.
Angela Bauer said she and her former partner, Jennifer Schreiner, are "kind of at a loss" about the Kansas Department for Children and Families' recent decision to file a child-support claim against William Marotta. Marotta, of Topeka, provided sperm that was used to artificially inseminate Schreiner three years ago.
"We are going to support him in whatever action he wants to go forward with," said Bauer, 40.
Marotta responded to Bauer and Schreiner's Craigslist ad for a sperm donor in March 2009. Marotta agreed to relinquish all parental rights, including financial responsibility to the child.
When Bauer and Schreiner placed the ad, they had been together for eight years and had adopted other children. The couple broke up in 2010 but co-parent their eight children, who range in age from 3 months to 25 years.
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"This was a wonderful opportunity with a guy with an admirable, giving character who wanted nothing more than to help us have a child," Bauer said. "I feel like the state of Kansas has made a mess out of the situation."
Angela de Rocha, spokeswoman for the Department for Children and Families, said Friday that Kansas law prevented her from commenting on the case.
Bauer can no longer provide health benefits to the child because a health problem has left her incapable of working since March.
After the couple filed for state assistance this year, the agency demanded they provide the donor's name so it could collect child support. The department said Schreiner had to provide the sperm donor's name, saying that if she didn't, the agency would deny health benefits because she was withholding information.
Because Kansas doesn't recognize same-sex unions, the couple had to file each adoption as a single parent.
That law also prevents the state from collecting child support from same-sex partners, even though Bauer volunteered to assume financial responsibility for her daughter.
