Dr. Ned Holstein, president of Fathers & Families writes:
Stephanie Hernandez gave birth to a baby girl in Nashville’s Baptist Hospital on August 31, 2007. She was not married at the time. No father’s name was listed on the birth certificate, meaning that the father had no legal paternity rights or obligations.ÂÂÂ
Deadbeat Dad?  Nope. Her fiancé, whom she later married, was at her side the entire time. Hernandez, a US citizen, and her undocumented immigrant fiancé, were prevented from placing his name on the birth certificate by Tennessee law. The law requires an unmarried dad to produce government-issued ID to appear on the birth certificate, but this is denied to undocumented immigrants.
Read the rest of Ned’s post here. A couple points:
1) Funny how they block the father from being on the birth certificate because of his immigration status, but, according to Holstein, “Tennessee appears to have no qualms about immigration status when it comes to child support collections.” Same old double standard for fathers–we don’t care about your bond/custody/parenting time with your kid, but child support is very, very important.
2) As many could guess, my opinion is that a father is a father, regardless of his immigration status, and his relationship with his child must be respected and protected.
Again, read I recommend Ned’s full post here.
