Registering with the Putative Remember that you must start legal Registry is only one step in protecting proceedings to establish paternity within 30 rotect your , you must also begin legal days of registering with the Putative Father P proceedings to establish paternity within Registry. 30 days of registering. Your Rights What happens if I don’t register How can I establish paternity? with the Putative Father Registry as a Father You may have already established or if I don’t establish paternity? paternity if you signed a Voluntary If you do not register with the Putative Make sure your child is not Acknowledgement of Paternity at the Father Registry within 30 days of the child’s hospital when the baby was born. adopted without your consent birth, or if you do register but do not start legal proceedings to establish paternity If you did not establish paternity at the within 30 days after that, the following may hospital, then you must do one of the happen: following: • The court may rule that you have • Sign a Voluntary Acknowledgement waived your rights, and permanently of Paternity now; terminate your parental rights without • Go to court to establish paternity with notice; and the Clerk of Circuit Court, or • Your child may be permanently adopted • See a Healthcare and Services without your consent. representative.

You may wish to an attorney to Who else benefits from the Putative assist you. In some instances, you may be able to obtain free assistance filing a case Father Registry? from the Illinois Department of Healthcare The Putative Father Registry also serves and Family Services. Contact: who want to adopt, social workers and other professionals who must The Illinois Department of make sure that a child is ‘legally free’ for Healthcare and Family Services adoption. Ultimately, the Registry benefits Cook County Office children because it helps to determine if Division of Enforcement they are available to be adopted. 32 West Randolph Street, 9th Floor The Illinois Putative Father Registry Chicago, Illinois 60601 Illinois Department of 3 N. Old State Capitol Plaza Springfield, IL 62701 The Illinois Department of Healthcare 1-866-PFR-DCFS and Family Services Child Support Children & Family Services (1-866-737-3237) Inquiry Line can be reached by calling Printed by Authority of the State of Illinois www.putativefather.org DCFS #351 – Dec 2016 – 4,000 Copies 1-800-447-4278. CFS 1050-10 – Rev. 12/16 [email protected] Protect Your Rights as a Father. How do I register with the Putative What happens to the information Register with the Illinois Putative Father Registry? that I give to the Registry? Father Registry To register with the Illinois Putative Father The information that you provide to the In Illinois, a father is supposed to be Registry, you simply fill out a registration Registry will be kept confidential. If notified before his child can be adopted. form. You may request a registration form your child is the subject of an adoption But a father who isn’t married to the by calling the phone number below, or if proceeding and a search is requested of child’s mother may not be easy to find, you have access to the internet, you may the Registry, your information will be or might not be legally recognized as the fill it out directly on our web site at,http:// given to the requesting party so that you child’s father. The Putative Father Registry www.putativefather.org/home_father.aspx can be notified of the adoption proceeding. is a way for such to make sure that and printing the completed form. After Interested parties could include the child’s they can protect their rights. you have completed the registration form, mother, the people who want to adopt make sure to sign it, and mail the original the child, a child welfare agency, or an signed registration form to the Registry at attorney representing any of the above. What is a Putative Father? the address specified below. For your con- venience, you may also register in person, A ‘putative father’ is a man who may be and the service is absolutely free of charge. How does the Putative Father a child’s father, but who was not married Registry work? to the child’s mother before the child was The Illinois Putative Father Registry born and has not established the fact that 3 North Old State Capitol Plaza After a father registers with the Putative he is the father in a legal proceeding. If Springfield, IL 62701 Father Registry, the court will make sure the child’s mother wants to place the child Tel: 1-866-PFR-DCFS (1-866-737-3237) that he is notified if the child becomes for adoption, the putative father must take E-mail: [email protected] the subject of an adoption proceeding. steps to show that he is the legal father Web site: www.putativefather.org When the father receives the “notice of of the child if he wants to have any say pending adoption,” he can then appear in the adoption. By registering with the before the court in the adoption case to Illinois Putative Father Registry, a father What personal information must be provide information regarding the child’s takes one step toward proving he is the best interests. child’s father. provided on the Registration Form? To complete the registration form you must provide your name, address, Social To protect my rights, when should Who should register with the Security number, date of birth, and other I register? Putative Father Registry? basic personal information about yourself. It also asks for information about your child If you think that you may be a Putative A man who thinks he is the father of a and the child’s mother. Once you register, Father, you may register with the Putative child, and who wants to have a say in it is very important to keep your address Father Registry before or after the birth of whether the child is adopted, should current with the registry. the child. But in order to receive the notice register with the Putative Father Registry. of pending adoption, you must register In fact, he should register even if he signed no later then 30 days after the birth of the the child’s birth certificate and even if he child. is under 18 years of age.