MEMPHIS, Tenn.– Signing a birth certificate can turn a joyous event into a nightmare with one question- Who is the baby’s “real” father?
State Rep. Antonio Parkinson, who represents District 98 in Shelby County, said a bill he plans to present next week in Nashville will help answer that question. The bill is focused on unwed individuals and men who, in his words, blindly and voluntarily sign a birth certificate without knowing if they are actually the biological father.
“You could honestly get away with having a person off the street to voluntarily acknowledge paternity and they actually not be the father, and it be accepted as evidence of paternity when it come so to a child support case,” Parkinson said.
Parkinson planned to introduce his bill Wednesday afternoon but the Children and Family Affairs SubCommittee ran out of time.
“All this legislation would do is, if you want to voluntarily sign on that birth certificate, there’s nothing wrong with that and this legislation doesn’t change that. So, you can voluntarily sign but in order to validate that birth certificate you would just have to produce a DNA test saying that you are the father,” he said.
He said a child deserves to know who their biological father is and under his bill a birth certificate would hold a biological father more accountable and prevent a heartbreaking mistake.
“What if the actual biological father shows up later and because this individual signed this birth certificate then the actual biological father is robbed of his right, legally, to be a parent to his biological child and that happens?” Parkinson said. “It’s better that we find out who the fathers are, the biological fathers are, on the front end than five years down the road or ten years down the road.”
Parkinson said the idea for the bill came from a constituent who faced a similar situation. He knows this is controversial and said he expects major opposition from the Department of Human Services.
Parkinson anticipates the bill could very well fail, but says he still plans to fight to get it passed.