
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, June 11, 1993                   TAG: 9308250319
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A14   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

PATERNITY

EVEN UNWED fathers tend to be proud papas at the time their progeny make their debut into the world. Often, they'll rush to the hospital to beam at their newborns through the nursery windows, and, if they get the chance, count their fingers and toes.

That's the time, says the Clinton administration, to officially establish paternity. Just in case dad decides years later that he wants nothing to do with his children, least of all to contribute to their support.

Federal legislation, now pending in the Senate, would require states to set up simple and, one hopes, user-friendly procedures for fathers to acknowledge paternity at hospitals. "Everybody agrees that the hospital is the right place," says David Ellwood, assistant secretary of planning and evaluation at the Department of Health and Human Services. "The ultimate goal is to establish paternity for everybody in America. Every child has a right to know who their father is and who their mother is."

And not just for the kids' sake, but for taxpayers', too. Such a plan could save millions of dollars by increasing child-support payments from unwed fathers. It's a good plan, which Virginia's Department of Social Services to its credit pioneered.

This state in 1990 launched the Paternity Establishment Project to tap new fathers on the shoulder in maternity wards, to say congratulations - and please sign here. As a result of the innovative program, nearly 3,000 men have voluntarily acknowledged paternity.

Virginia officials say the overwhelming majority of unwed fathers are willing, even happy, to sign the paternity documents at the hospitals - even though they know it could obligate them to pay child support.

The procedural cost to the state, it's estimated, is about $20 per papa - compared to about $400 if it takes going to court to establish paternity.

Moreover, as the years pass, the chances of even finding the father grow slimmer. This increases the likelihood of unwed mothers and their children ending up on welfare.

Even in cases where welfare assistance isn't needed, failure to establish paternity can penalize the children. Often they are denied legal rights to their father's income and fringe benefits such as health insurance, or to survivors' benefits if the father dies.

Child support, of course, cannot make up for other nonfinancial bonds with their fathers that children of unwed dads may miss. But for record-high numbers of children being born to unmarried women in this country, financial support of the father is likely to make the difference between a life of poverty and a life of reasonable sustenance. The government should try to ensure the latter.

In 1992, Virginia won national honors from a child-advocacy group for the creative ways, the hospital-based program included, it had devised to improve child-support enforcement. Since then, the rate of paternity acknowledgments has tripled. A few other states with similar programs also are seeing progress.

Given such results, it's surprising more states haven't moved on their own to go into the hospitals, to make it as easy as possible for unwed fathers to own up to their role.

The Clinton administration is on the right track with this federal legislation. It emulates worthy innovation in the states, and requires citizens to become more responsible.

by CNB