Putative Father Registries: An Exploratory Study

Background and Purpose: In 34 states, an unmarried mother can relinquish her child for adoption without the consent or notification of the biological father unless he has registered with the state’s putative father registry. These states have established putative father registries which have the potential to impact any post pubescent male who engages in an extramarital sexual relationship. Because 90% of men have been found to engage in relationships that could lead to them becoming unmarried fathers by the time they reach 30, all men should be made aware of putative father registries. This study applies multi-person decision theory to assess whether U.S. men are aware of registries which could be used to protect their parental rights.

Methods: To enhance the depth of understanding, data for this study was collected using both qualitative and quantitative methods in an exploratory sequential design. The qualitative method of case study was applied to gather in-depth information from a singular informant. As a father whose parental rights were terminated based on this registry system, this informant represented an instrumental case to deepen understanding.  This interview was coded using in-vivo coding and provisional coding to maintain the words of the participant while also utilizing the concepts provided in multi-person decision theory. Additionally, between April 5 and September 5, 2015 106 males between the ages of 18 and 55 completed an online survey about their awareness of putative father registries.  Questions about the participants’ opinions of the registry system were also asked. To allow for comparison these open ended questions were coded using attribute coding as well as in-vivo coding and provisional coding.

Findings: A vast majority (87.6%) of survey respondents declared themselves not at all informed about putative father registries with those living in states with registries being more likely to be aware of them than those not living in such states. The case study illustrates that even after learning about the registries, men face a number of barriers to registering.

Conclusions and Implications: Lack of awareness puts men at risk for losing their parental rights. Steps should be taken to lower the risk that the children of unmarried parents will be placed for adoption without notification or consent from their biological fathers.

Social workers who provide counseling to post-pubescent clients including those in reproductive health, pregnancy decision making, and adoption should integrate education on putative father registries into their work. Social workers should educate their post-pubescent male clients about their state’s registry as well as the necessity to register in other states.

Future research should be undertaken to increase the understanding of how putative father registries are currently implemented, issues around their access, and impact on fathers, children, mothers, and potential adoptive parents. This research should include additional exploration of the experiences of men who have registered with putative father registries as well as those who did not register resulting in their children being placed for adoption without their consent.