What is Paternity?

Paternity is the establishment of a legal father-child relationship for children born to unwed parents. Once paternity is established, the father's name can be placed on the birth certificate, and he has all of the parental rights and responsibilities of a married father.

How Does One Establish Paternity?

The easiest way for parents to do so is to take part in the Hospital Opportunity for Paternity Establishment (H.O.P.E.) program in the hospital at the time of the baby's birth. For more information on H.O.P.E. and other ways to establish paternity, call 1-800-447-4278.

Why Would You Establish Paternity?

Parents are encouraged to establish paternity for a number of reasons:

Family Ties

As the child comes to know his or her father, the child may also know his or her grandparents and other members of the father's family. The father's family can provide support for the child, such as child care, clothing, food and a sense of belonging.

Medical Information

As we learn more about heredity and genetically transmitted diseases, it becomes important for a child to have access to the medical history of the father and the father's family. This information can be vital to the successful diagnosis and treatment of a child's medical problems.

Financial Benefits

When a child is living with only one parent, the other parent can be required to make regular child support payments to help support the child. In addition, children can be entitled to veterans' benefits, medical insurance, Social Security benefits and inheritance rights once there is a legal father.

Emotional Ties

Establishing paternity can have positive psychological effects. Having legal ties with another individual often creates a special bond. It can promote a sense of pride and responsibility for the father and can give a child a higher level of self-esteem.

Don't Allow The Following Misconceptions to Deprive Your Child of a Relationship with the Father

Belief That Establishing Paternity Is Not Necessary

Prior to August 9, 1996, a very common misconception was that if the father signed the Illinois Department of Public Health Affidavit to add his name to the birth certificate at the time of the child's birth, he was the legal father. Now, signing the Voluntary Acknowledgment of Paternity (HFS 3416B) establishes paternity and the father's name is immediately added to the birth certificate.

When a father is supporting the child, the parents may feel that it is not necessary to legalize the relationship. Remember that under these circumstances the father is supporting the child by choice and can stop the support at any time. In addition, he has none of the legal rights of a father.

Lack of Information

When people think about being a parent, they generally do not envision a legal relationship. It is understandable, then, that many unmarried parents are simply unaware that voluntary, judicial or administrative procedures exist to establish the legal relationship and it is important to do so.

Emotional Constraints

Frequently, when the unmarried parents' relationship with each other isn't working out, they don't want to establish a legal tie. The child's right to a relationship with his or her father is really separate from the parents' relationship with each other and must be allowed to occur even though it's hard for the parents to do.

Lack of Money

Sometimes parents may not want to establish paternity because at the moment the father has no income. That could change in the future and there is more to a father-child relationship than money. Current laws allow a support order to be entered for at least $10 per month, although the father has no income. And, once the paternity is established, either by voluntary, administrative or judicial procedures, you can pursue Division of Child Support Enforcement services to obtain a child support order. Call 1-800-447-4278 for a child support enforcement application.

Going to Court

Some unmarried couples do not want their relationship upset by a court battle. These parents can benefit from the voluntary acknowledgment process at the hospital (H.O.P.E.), the voluntary acknowledgment of paternity process (P.E.P.) or the administrative paternity process.