well-settled law (discussed be low) that a parent most certainly cannot excuse abandonment of parental responsibilities by claiming no one asked or demanded he or she act like a parent. See, e.g., Reeves, 392 S.C. at 152-53, 708 S.E.2d at 783 (noting that if the mother wants the father to stay away, he must respect her wishes but be sure that his support does not remain equally distant) (citing In re Adoption of M.D.K., 30 Kan.App.2d 1176, 58 P.3d 745, 750-51 (2002) (Beier, J., concurring)). The United States Supreme Court has issued a series of cases holding that the Constitution affords protection to an unwed father where the father has grasped the opportunity to be a parent; mere biology is not enough. See, e.g., Lehr v. Robertson, 463 U.S. 248, 103 S.Ct. 2985, 77 L.Ed.2d 614 (1983) (<HOLDING>). Essentially, “[p]arental rights do not spring
holding failure to give putative father notice of adoption proceedings did not violate due process where he had never established a substantial relationship with his child holding that a child was not barred by a former statute of limitations applicable to actions to establish the existence of a father and child relationship when the current action was to establish the nonexistence of a father and child relationship and the presumed father no longer persisted in maintaining paternity holding that the biological father was not entitled to notice of adoption proceeding where he failed to properly legitimate his child holding that the natural father must have established a substantial relationship with the child to merit constitutional protection holding that the presumption of legitimacy shifts the burden of persuasion to the putative father to establish that he did not father the child