Essay On Paternity

Paternity, according to dictionary.reference.com, is the state of being a father; fatherhood. When most people think of father, they think of the male "parental unit" who is taking care of you and cares about you most. But, this may or may not be true, depending on your situation. There are four types of fathers: biological, alleged, legal, and presumed. A biological father, is the person who had sex with the baby's mother to bring it into being. The presumed father, the mother's husband when the baby is born. Lastly, the alleged father is who the mother claims to be the baby's father but is not married to the mother. The final, most important type of father is the person who signs the birth certificate. These father's described above, can be all one person, or they can be two, three, or even four different people.

Paternity laws can differ from state to state. In Texas, if the mother …show more content…
One option, is to "voluntarily" sign an Acknowledgement of Paternity form or "involuntarily" establish paternity through the court. Voluntary acknowledgement of paternity requires both the mother and "father" to agree that the person claiming to be the child's father is in actuality is the father. Once that is done, an Acknowledgement of Paternity form is signed. An Acknowledgement of Paternity form can be found in many places such as the hospital, the Vital Statistics Unit or the Attorney General's Child Support Office. Now, the mother and the father's names will be on the baby's birth certificate. This is typically done at the hospital soon after the baby is born. But, this does not necessarily have to occur as soon as the baby is born; the form can still be filled out and mailed to the Vital Statistics Unit in Austin. The only catch to this process is that if the birth certificate has been mailed by the hospital already, a fee will be charged to add the father's name to the