A study published in the recent issue of Journal of Marriage and Family examines the effectiveness of in-hospital paternity establishment for babies born to unwed parents. The research shows that though establishing paternity at any time increases the amount of formal and informal child support and the amount of father-child visits, in-hospital establishment is associated with better outcomes.
Analysis of interviews conducted a year after the baby's birth with mothers who remained single showed that fathers, who were named in the hospital, are fifteen percentage points more likely to have seen their child in the past month. Those whose paternity was established outside of the hospital are only seven points more likely to visit than those who did not have their paternity established. Read more from this post.
