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A WORRIED dad is being denied the chance to see his son as his ex named another man as the father on his birth certificate.
My friend was seeing this girl and she got pregnant after few weeks of being together, she said my mate was the father of her unborn baby so he took up the responsibility, paid for the baby's pram gave her money towards things she needs to buy and even help her toward her house deposit.
After the birth of the child, this girl has denied my mate from seeing the child and told him he is no longer the father of the baby as another man has taken over due to their relationship breakdown, he demanded a DNA test, He spoke to the girl about it which she agreed and he when ahead to order the kits, when the kits arrived the girl asked for it to be posted to her which my mate refused and said he will come round to the girl's house and carry out the swab himself in her present and seal it so they can both take it to the post office, but she refused and blocked my mate on everywhere as possible.
My friend is so worried and asking if he could get a court order for the DNA, has she refused to let him do the DNA and she has registered the child with another man's name on the birth certificate.
Please he needs advice on what to do..
OHi there
I've copied and pasted this from advice given to a previous member by Coram Childrens Legal Centre about 8 months ago, so it is current.
In order to establish paternity of the child you would need to take a DNA test. There are two routes to doing this:
1) If the mother was to consent you could visit your GP and request a DNA test to be completed
2) If the mother was not to consent you would need to apply to the Courts for a Declaration of Parentage. This would be asking the courts to order a DNA test be undertaken. To apply for a Declaration of Parentage you would need to complete a form C63 which can be obtained from www.justice.gov.uk. There is a fee for this application which you will need to check with the Courts.
If it is established that you are the father of the child then you can address the following:
Parental Responsibility
Parental Responsibility is defined in s.3(1) Children Act 1989 as being: "all the rights, duties, powers, responsibilities and authority which by law a parent of a child has in relation to the child and his property".
Practically Parental Responsibility means that both parties should consult and consent on issues such as schooling, medical issues, change of name, removal from the jurisdiction and other major issues concerning the child.
If you are the biological father of the child we would strongly recommend that you obtain Parental Responsibility for your child.
You can obtain this through the following routes:
1) If you have gone through the Courts for a Declaration of Parentage you can request the court order your name be added to the birth certificate
2) If the mother agrees you can both re-register the birth certificate or, complete a form for a Parental Responsibility Agreement from www.justice.gov.uk entitled PRA1
3) If the mother does not agree you can apply for a Parental Responsibility Order on a form called a C1 from www.justice.gov.uk.
Before making an application to the Court you will need to undertake mediation with the mother. This is a process involving you, the mother and a trained professional third party mediator coming together to try and resolve the issue without the need to go to court. Under new legislation mediation is mandatory and you will need to attempt this before going to court. For more information on mediation and for help organising this you can contact National Family Mediation on 03004000636.
Contact
In order to establish contact, the first steps we would advise that you take would be mediation as detailed above. However if mediation does not prove successful then you can apply to the Courts for a Child Arrangements Order. This is a legally binding order that would set out the arrangements in relation to the child in terms of contact including the frequency and the type of contact.
To apply for this Order you would need to complete a form entitled a C100. There are also guidance leaflets entitled CB1 and CB3. These can all be downloaded from www.justice.gov.uk. There is a fee for this application of approximately £215. Although the court can give an exemption in certain circumstances.
In deciding whether or not to grant such an order the court will base their decision on what they feel is in the best interests of your son’s welfare, in order to do this they will go through the welfare checklist:
• Childs physical, emotional and educational needs.
• Effect of any change on the child.
• The age, [censored] and background of the child.
• Any harm which the child has suffered or may suffer.
• How capable each parent is of meeting the Childs needs.
If your friend would prefer to talk to someone about this he might like to give the Coram childrens adviceline a call, here's a link to their contact details
http://childlawadvice.org.uk/clas/contact-child-law-advice/
The Citizens Advice Bureau would also be able to advise your friend.
Best of luck
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