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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowThe Indiana Court of Appeals affirmed a lower court rejection of a man’s petition for visitation rights with a child who was not biologically his.
The appellate court agreed with a lower court decision to deny Jordan Fleschner visitation rights with the child of his former girlfriend Rachel Scheid, identified as “Mother,” because his behavior “undermine[d] Mother’s parental authority,” and Fleschner did not overcome the presumption that Scheid’s decision to cut off contact was in the child’s best interest, the Nov. 4 opinion stated.
The two started dating in 2015, when the child was 2 years old, but broke up in 2023 following a physical altercation between the couple, according to the opinion. Fleschner was still able to have contact with the child.
On Sept. 3, Fleschner filed for a verified petition to establish custodial and parental rights by a third-party after discovering references to self-harm in the then-12-year-old child’s diary, according to the opinion.
He also alleged that he was the child’s primary caretaker from 2017 to 2023 while Scheid worked, among other parental duties. Sometime after that, Scheid blocked Fleschner’s number in her child’s phone.
In January 2026, she filed for a protective order on her child’s behalf after discovering that Fleschner and the child had been secretly messaging each other, despite her having blocked his number from the child’s phone, the opinion states.
In those conversations, Fleschner discussed adopting the child and even encouraged her to spend the night with one of her friends so he could spend time with her without her mother knowing, according to the opinion.
The lower court granted the protective order against Fleschner on March 17.
The appellate court also recognized that Fleschner assumed parental responsibilities, but it stopped short of deciding whether he had legal standing to pursue third-party visitation with the child, according to the opinion.
The case is Jordan Fleschner v. Rachel Scheid, 26A-MI-01005.
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