Putative father registry

In the United States of America, the putative father registry is a state level legal option for unmarried men to document through a notary public any woman they engage with in intercourse, for the purpose of retaining parental rights for any child they may father.^[1][2]

About

In the United States, putative fathers will be notified when actions to terminate their parental rights as part of adoption proceedings are filed for a child they may have fathered and registered for.^[3] Non-marital fathers are not guaranteed notice of an adoption or any rights in contesting the decision by the mother, nor are they guaranteed the ability to adopt or gain custody of the child. This has generated controversy, due to the fact that unwed fathers are held responsible financially for the children they father inside or outside of marriage, with the same financial responsibilities any married father would be held to. However, the unmarried fathers have no right to custody, visitation, or to oppose the adoption of their children, only the obligation to support them financially (and the penalty of prison time if they fail to do this). Typically, the father is only guaranteed notification and the right to appear in court to testify about their child's best interests when he has registered timely.^[4] Registering timely with a state's putative father registry supposedly guarantees notice, though there have been documented instances where that wasn’t true. Timely legal establishment of paternity typically guarantees notice and an opportunity to be heard and may confer rights to consent or withhold consent to adoption. Prenatal support of the mother and fetus assures recognition of parental rights in 34 states.^[5]

There is no federal law in place regulating putative father registries.^[6] Currently 33 states in the U.S. have putative father registries.^{[citation needed]} The number of children adopted without consent or notice to the biological father under the registry program started in the 1970s is unknown.

State putative father registries are intended to protect the non-marital father from fraud by providing him with legal notice of a planned adoption of a child, provided he registers within a limited time-frame (usually any time prior to the birth, or from 1 to 31 days after a birth).^[7] Lack of knowledge of the pregnancy or birth is not an acceptable reason for failure to file; fraud by the birth mother typically does extend the father's time to register.^[8]

Some states require a putative father to file with multiple states, i.e. with the state possible conception might have occurred, state of residence (if different) and possible states the mother might visit,^[9] or relocate to after the possible conception date that also have putative father registries.^[10][11] At least one state requires a parent or guardian of the declarant to also sign when a minor under the age of 18 is documenting intercourse with a putative father registry.^{[12][clarification needed]}

17 states (Alaska, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Mississippi, Nevada, New Jersey, North Carolina, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Washington, West Virginia), as well as American Samoa, District of Columbia, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands, do not have putative father registries.^[1]

Alternative names

Putative father registries are not always called such by individual states. Other names for registries include:

• Paternity registry
• Centralized paternity registry
• Interstate adoption putative father registry
• Parental claim registrar
• Fathers' adoption registry
• Biological father registry
• Putative father inclusion
• Responsible father registry

See also

• Adoption
• Adoption in the United States
• Fathers' rights movement
• Fathers' rights movement in the United States
• Men's rights
• Paternity fraud
• Putative father
• Reproductive rights