Why Legal Fatherhood Is Important

Legal Fatherhood Protects Your Baby's Rights

Whether the father is young or old, rich or poor, he is the only birth father your baby has. A baby has a right to a mother and a father, even when his or her parents are not married. It is important for your baby to know who his or her mother and father are.

If you establish legal fatherhood, your child:

• will know who his or her father is
• will be entitled to receive financial support from both parents until he or she becomes an adult
• will have rights to his or her father's social security, veterans' benefits, pension, and inheritance if something should happen
• will have the rights to tribal enrollment if Native American
• have access to the father’s family’s health history (by the child's doctor). This is important because conditions such as diabetes, cancers, heart problems, and sickle cell run in families
• may be enrolled in his or her father's health insurance plan

Even if the child’s parents plan to marry or if the child’s parents live together, establishing legal fatherhood guarantees the child’s rights.

Legal Fatherhood Protects the Father's Rights

Legal fatherhood gives the father the right to:

• Have his name on his child's birth certificate
• Have his child know who his or her father is
• Have his parental rights considered before his baby can be placed for adoption.
• Ask the court for legal custody and placement/visitation of his child
• Submit a parenting plan to the court

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