Establishing Paternity

If a child is born out of wedlock,there are three ways to establish paternity:

•   Both parents complete, sign, and have a Voluntary Acknowledgement of Paternity (VAP) form witnessed and filed with the Department of Healthcare and Family Services.
•   An Administrative Paternity Order is established and entered by HFS' Child Support Services.
•   An Order of Paternity is established and entered in court judicially.

An easy way for parents to establish paternity is to complete a VAP form at the hospital

when the child is born. Parents can ask hospital staff for a VAP when providing information for the child’s birth certificate. Hospital staff can help parents complete this form.

     The VAP is a legal document that is used to establish paternity for unwed parents. Once

the VAP is completed and filed with HFS, it will be used to have the father’s name added

to the child’s birth certificate. #paternity, #establishpaternity,