Every year, almost one-third of Georgia babies are born to unwed parents. Until recently, an unmarried father could acknowledge paternity, but that did not automatically establish him as his child’s legal parent. Being legally acknowledged or legitimated is important for matters such as custody, visitation and inheritance.

“This complex and costly process was a recognized barrier to enforcing child support and providing access to social services,” said Betty Hudson, a Carl Vinson Institute of Government faculty member at the University of Georgia.

Before Hudson and Alberta Ellett, assistant professor in UGA’s School of Social Work, documented Georgia’s legitimation process, the state was one of the last in the nation to require separate legal proceedings to establish an unmarried father as both the biological and legal parent.

Hudson and Ellett collaborated with the state’s Administrative Office of the Courts and the Office of Child Support Enforcement to study Georgia’s legitimation proceedings. Their study gained additional value when the Georgia legislature proposed dramatic changes to the existing process.

“We had the opportunity to track the proposed legislation and develop products to help explain it to the target audience,” Hudson said.

A survey sent to judges and court administrators provided a comprehensive look at Georgia’s legitimation proceedings.

“The strong involvement of the judges led to an increased interest in the implementation of a new law,” said Jill Radwin, child support judicial liaison for the Administrative Office of the Courts.

Senate Bill 53, enacted in Georgia’s 2005 legislative session, amended previous legitimation laws and allowed unmarried fathers to sign documents in the hospital legally acknowledging a child as theirs. More than 4,000 fathers used the new administrative process within the first month of the bill going into effect.

Ann Allen

Tags: Politics, Social Services, Winter 2007