As they toured the holiday lights at Temple Square last December, Jake Strickland and Whitney Pettersson looked like just another happy, expectant couple.

Their baby was due in less than two weeks, and although not married or even in a relationship any longer, they’d decided to raise the child together. Or so Strickland thought.

A year later, Strickland is embroiled in a desperate, and so far unsuccessful, legal battle to gain custody of his child, born just a day after that visit to Temple Square and swiftly placed with adoptive parents. Strickland is among dozens of men who’ve waged similar fights in Utah, which arguably has the nation’s strictest laws governing unwed father’s rights.

Among several miscalculations on Strickland’s part, he admits this may have been the biggest one: He trusted Pettersson.

Read other parts of this series:

Dec. 25: Stopping an adoption: In Utah, fathers rarely win • http://bit.ly/uT51Tc

Dec. 26: Utah adoption law: model for nation or unjust burden? • http://bit.ly/vFuYQ8

The two met in 2009 at a South Jordan restaurant where they both worked. Pettersson openly discussed her rocky marriage and then announced she had divorced, said Strickland, 24. They began dating last January. Three months later, Pettersson sent Strickland a text message: "I’m pregnant."

Pettersson, who also has a daughter, was distraught, Strickland said, but he reassured her they’d figure it out together.

Two weeks later, Strickland left for a temporary job in Texas, where he hoped to make enough money to pay off debt and build up a baby fund. During the months he was away, Pettersson twice tried to end the relationship, expressing doubt he’d stick around. Strickland says he constantly reassured her of his intention to be a dad. Meanwhile, she built ties with his family, attending a baby shower and a birthday party.

But the pair’s relationship had run its course by August, when Strickland returned to Utah. Even so, the two continued to meet for lunch several times a week. It was at one of those meetings that Strickland pressed Pettersson about where she stood on adoption and mentioned he might sign with Utah’s putative father registry.

Pettersson became furious and threatened to not let him see his baby, he said, and "told me straight up I didn’t need to and it would be a waste of money, and I stupidly believed her."

Strickland was reluctant to spend nearly $3,500 to hire an attorney to handle filings when there was a baby on the way. So he did nothing legally to protect his parental rights.