An amazing father-daughter story has a happy ending

Daniel Quinn has very little experience as a father. Nearly none at all in recent years.

Yet, he may be the most loving, devoted father I’ve encountered in all my years in the newspaper business.

Some readers out there may remember the disturbing story I wrote for The Macomb Daily in June 2012 about Quinn fighting to gain custody of his daughter, an effort that was blocked by an archaic 1956 state law. Quinn's response was to successfully lobby the Legislature for a change in that custody law.

In Feburary, I wrote a follow-up about Quinn’s successes in court to tentatively gain visitation rights to his beloved Maeleigh (pronounced may-lee), who was taken from him by

her mother at age 2 ½ and allegedly abused and neglected for years. (Frankly, the story is much uglier than it sounds.)

This past weekend, Quinn finally had the opportunity to reunite with his daughter, now 6, and hold her for the first time in years.

Here’s what Quinn, a resident of Highland, near Brighton, wrote on his Facebook page:

This marked the greatest weekend of my life. For the first time in many years i was able to hold my little girl again. Our visit and time together went very well. As I left i made her another promise. We held out our pinky's as I pinky-promised her that I would never be gone for so long again and that I will always be a big part of her life from now on. She lit up and smiled and seemed very happy about that. Looking forward to many new memories with my little girl. I love you Maeleigh and, as always, I hope to see you in dreamland.

~Daddy~

Quinn has emerged as a fairly well-known advocate of father’s rights. You can view his Facebook page here.