This is a comment from Tracey Erwin, Director of Chatham County Child Support Services. She wrote this piece in recognition of Child Support Awareness Month.
After serving two years as Director of the Child Services Division of the Chatham County District Attorney’s Office, I have made several important observations. Although the immediate goal of recovering child support is to ensure that there is support for the child, ultimately we hope that families will be reunited and that absent parents will not only support their children, but take an active interest in them.
In order to achieve this, it is absolutely critical that non-custodial parents (typically fathers) understand their parental rights, laws, duties and responsibilities towards their children.
Georgia favors the rights of the mother over the non-custodial father, and fathers who are not married to their child’s mother must take additional steps to protect their legal rights as parents in Georgia. Fathers of children born out of wedlock often do not have the same inherent rights as fathers of children born to married parents.
For example, fathers of illegitimate children do not have custody or visitation rights. Married parents do not have the same concern as the father’s right is implicit.
Here are some ways to fix this:
- If the mother gives birth in a Georgia hospital and the father is present, either parent can sign a voluntary acknowledgment of paternity and submit the form to the State Office of Vital Records.
- Fathers may petition the superior court of the county where the father or child resides to marry a child. A request for a visit can also be included in this petition.
- Fathers can register in the Putative Father Registry, which ensures they are notified if anyone ever attempts to adopt the child.
Parental rights in the state of Georgia, of course, favor the mother, and it is up to the biological father, if unmarried, to complete the necessary process to legitimize his child. The mother’s rights are automatic. Unmarried fathers must stand up for their rights.
Fathers and mothers of children born out of wedlock need to be educated on the concept of legitimacy and its impact on the child and family. If a child is born in Georgia and the parents have not married within 10 months before the birth or were married at the birth of the child, the father has no parental rights over the child under Georgian law.
In other words, the father has legal obligations to the child but no legal rights.
The Chatham County Child Support Services Office provides essential services for Native families in the county, such as: B. Genetic testing to determine paternity, directives of support, and review and amendment.
According to the Georgia Division of Child Support Services, as of July 2022, our office served 9,298 families with 10,660 children ages 19 and under. These children receive our services because they live in a biological parent household, and in some cases without a biological parent when they are raised by a relative, family friend or foster family.
In these cases, 97% of the custodial parents were female, while 3% of the custodial parents were male.
If you are a parent or caregiver of a minor child and would like to learn more about how the Chatham County Child Support Office can assist you in building stronger families for a stronger Georgia, please visit us from 2:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m at our Child Support Resource Fair Saturday, September 10 at 4:00 p.m. at Georgia Legal Services, 6602 Abercorn Street.
