Paternal Registries Protect Unwed Fathers And Their Children

The Tampa Tribune

Jeremiah Clayton Jones didn't know he was about to become a father until a Tampa family lawyer called for his permission to give up the baby for adoption.

The 23-year-old said no and hired a lawyer, but because he had failed to preserve his paternal rights by signing the state's registry for unwed fathers, he lost them. Jones, like a lot of men, didn't know about the registry. Neither, apparently, did his lawyer, who has since died.

Jones is appealing the loss of his parental rights, and he may have a shot at prevailing because while he objected to the adoption, he was never told about the registry.

While there is reason to feel some sympathy for Jones - after all, unlike a lot of men, he wanted to be responsible for his son - the more important point is the well-being of the baby. The Legislature, in fashioning the paternal registry statute, sought to prevent gut-wrenching cases like Baby Jessica and Baby Richard, whose fathers, upon learning about the children after their adoptions, claimed their parental rights and broke up the only homes their children had known.

Until the last decade, unmarried men basically had no right to the children they conceived. But increasingly courts have ruled that when mothers decide to give up their children for adoption, attentive fathers have the right to seek custody. How ironic that no father has the legal right to prevent the mother of his child from having an abortion, yet she needs his permission for an adoption.

Registry laws give men the chance to claim their parental rights. If they have sex and are worried about fatherhood, they should sign up. It's their burden.

Most likely, few men will make the effort. Only 47 men registered in Florida for the 89,436 out-of-wedlock births here in 2004. Surely most men know nothing about the registry, but it is the best method by which to protect a father's rights while guaranteeing security for the adoptive parents and the child.

It's not perfect, but it's better than the old "scarlet letter" law, struck down by the court, that required birth mothers to register their names and those of their partners in the county of conception to assure the father could be contacted before an adoption.

Today 38 states have registries created to prevent after-adoption claims of paternity. If the parents have moved or the baby is taken to another state for adoption, the registry won't help, which is why Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., is planning to introduce legislation this year to create a federal registry.

Jones told his story to The New York Times: "I don't think there's any greater right that you could trespass on than a parent's right to his child," he said.

Yes, there is. There's the child's right to a stable family. The registry laws are designed to give him that.