New Mexico Young Fathers Project

1. New Mexico Young Fathers Project “Some Things in Life Shouldn’t be Taken For Granted” A Project of the New Mexico TeenPregnancy Coalition Presented by: Jessica Tafoya, NMTPC, NMYFP Community Liaison & Gilbert Ramirez, MSW, LISW, LCSW Clinical Consultant

2. Our mission is to promote social and family stability by improving the quality of father/child relationships in young families and by preventing repeat pregnancies. NM Young Fathers Project Mission Statement

3. New Mexico Putative Fatherhood Registry How many people are aware of this? What Purpose does this registry serve? Does it provide any legal establishment of paternity? How can this help potential young fathers in connecting with their children? It is an underutilized resource/option that needs to be shared with Potential Fathers as a crucial step toward working for engagement with their children.

4. Putative Father Registry The Putative father registry is a database listing men who consider themselves possible biological fathers to one or more children. The registry is managed by many US states, and no federal law is in place regulating putative father registries. The putative father registry is intended to provide legal recognition to the biological father of a child, provided the father registers within a limited time-frame (usually within 30 days after the birth of the child). In New Mexico it needs to be done NO Later Than 10 Days after birth of Child.

5. Putative Father A "putative father" is a man who may be a child's father, but who was not married to the child's mother before the child was born and has not established that he is the father in a court proceeding.

6. Putative Father Registry The Putative Father Registry was established by law to protect the parental rights of fathers who assume responsibility for children they may have fathered and to expedite adoptions of children whose biological fathers have not assumed responsibility for their children. Fathers may affirmatively assume responsibility for their child by registering with the Putative Father Registry. The registry does not replace the filing of an Acknowledgement of Paternity form, which legally establishes paternity.

7. Why Is the Putative Father Registry Important? Fathers who register will be notified if their children are put up for adoption by the mother. They are not guaranteed any rights in contesting the decision by the mother, nor are they guaranteed the ability to adopt or gain custody of the child. Typically, the father is only guaranteed notification, and the right to appear in court to testify about the child's best interests. Many state laws suggest that in order for men to preserve their legal rights as fathers, they must register whenever they "feel a woman they had intercourse with might be pregnant”

8. Putative Father Registry To register with the Putative Father Registry, a “Request for Inclusion in the Putative Father Registry” form must be completed and submitted to the New Mexico Bureau of Vital Records and Health Statistics. A putative father must sign up with the Putative Father Registry no later than ten days after the birth of a child in order to be notified when an adoption is planned. To facilitate adoptions, a search of the Putative Father Registry is conducted and if no putative father is found to have registered, the adoption process may proceed.

9. Putative Father Registry To request a search of the registry, a “Putative Father Registry Inquiry” form must be completed and submitted to the Bureau. The fee for the search is $12 or if the request is "Urgent", the search fee is $35. A request for a search of the registry may only be made by a court of competent jurisdiction; a department authorized by law to take actions affecting a child’s health, safety or welfare; the petitioner’s attorney or the mother of the child.

10. Putative Father Registry These forms may be downloaded at this website: www.nmhealth.org or http://www.vitalrecordsnm.org/PutFathReg.shtml or you may contact the Bureau at 1-866-534-0051 to request that a form be mailed to you.

11. Acknowledgement of Paternity If the mother was unmarried at the time of the child’s birth and no other name is listed on the Certificate of Birth as the father, the biological father’s name may be added to the birth certificate by filing an "Acknowledgement of Paternity" statement. The Acknowledgement of Paternity statement must be sworn to by the biological parents in the presence of a notary public.    New Mexico Bureau of Vital Records and Health Statistics has revised the Acknowledgment of Paternity statement (AOP) (spanish version). You may download and print the blank AOP form directly from your computer.

12. AOP Notes and instructions for completing the statement are provided on the Acknowledgment of Paternity form.    Parents should be instructed and encouraged to review the Notes and Instructions and Rights and Responsibilities sections before completing statement The revised AOP form is in adobe format.

13. AOP • The new father demographic fields are Education, Ethnicity and Race. • Father’s race and ethnicity are self-identified. • Each parent must sign the AOP form in the presence of a Notary Public. • Notary Public(s) must notarize each parent’s signature individually.  • A completed and notarized AOP statement must be submitted to the State of New Mexico, Bureau of Vital Records and Health Statistics, along with the required fees, for processing. Prior to submitting the notarized AOP statement for processing: • One (1) photocopy of the notarized AOP statement should be provided to each parent.  • One (1) photocopy of the filed AOP statement should be prepared for Child Support Enforcement Division. • One (1) photocopy of the filed AOP statement may be prepared for medical records.

14. AOP If you have any questions, please call 1 (866) 534-0051. http://www.vitalrecordsnm.org The fee for the amendment of the Vital Record is $10. The fee for a certified copy of the birth certificate is $10.

15. New Mexico Young Fathers Project Project Director: Sylvia Ruiz 540 Chama NE Suite 11 Albuquerque, NM 87108 (505) 254-8737 Fax: (505) 254-8741 E-Mail:director@nmtpc.org Jessica Tafoya Comm-lia@nmtpc.org Gilbert Ramirez, LICSW gilram@netzero.com www.youngfathers.org www.nmtpc.org