A man who has had sexual intercourse with a woman to whom he is not married should understand how to protect his parental rights in the event of a pregnancy. The laws in Florida that apply to such circumstances are found in the Florida adoption statute, Chapter 63, which established the putative father registry.
The putative father registry provides a potential unmarried biological father with the control and the means to notify any adoption entity of his desire to parent the child. If the pregnant woman disappears or misrepresents the identify of the biological father, the biological father can protect his own interests by registering. A potential unmarried biological father’s right to register begins at conception. A man may register even when he is not certain of the identity of the biological mother.
To register with the Florida putative father registry, the claim form must be filed with the Office of Vital Statistics of the Florida Department of Health, which has an informational web site.
However, registering with the Florida putative father registry is not the only thing that the potential unmarried biological father must do to protect his interest in parenting his child when born. If he has knowledge of the pregnancy, he must begin paying a fair and reasonable amount of the living and medical expenses incurred in connection with the mother’s pregnancy and child’s birth, in accordance with his financial ability. There are other requirements with which to comply if he is served with a Notice of Intended Adoption Plan, which should be discussed with a competent family law attorney.