Does In-Hospital Paternity Establishment Affect Father Involvement?

Irwin Garfinkel, Columbia University
Ronald Mincy, Columbia University
Lenna Nepomnyaschy, Columbia University

In 2001, 33% of all births in the U.S. were to unmarried mothers and 52% of children in the OCSE caseload were born outside of marriage. These families are much more likely to be poor and receive public assistance than those with previously-married mothers. Recently, federal legislation has focused on these trends by enhancing states’ ability to establish paternity for these children. Since 1994, voluntary acknowledgement of paternity, especially in-hospital procedures, has increased dramatically; however, child support receipt for children born outside of marriage continues to be quite low. In this paper, using data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, we first describe the prevalence and determinants of in-hospital paternity establishment. Next, we examine the extent to which in-hospital paternity establishment within a city increases the city’s overall paternity establishment rate. Finally, we estimate the independent effect of in-hospital paternity establishment on father involvement and child support payments.