Assemblyman Rod Wright, D-Los Angeles, has identified real problems with the way California sometimes establishes paternity. Men have been named fathers by court order without their knowledge. Even men who acknowledge paternity don't always know what the legal obligations of fatherhood entail, nor do they know that they can require genetic testing.
These problems seem to be widespread enough to require some remedy. Unfortunately, the remedy Wright proposes in AB 2240 would wreak havoc on children across California.
Under California law, once a court declares a man to be the father of a child, he has up to the child's second birthday to challenge that ruling. After two years, even if the man can show he is not the child's biological father, in most cases paternity cannot be set aside.
Wright's bill would change that. Under it, a falsely named father could petition a court to set aside paternity at any time during a child's life if the man could show he was not the biological father.
The change would leave many children at risk of losing the financial and emotional support of the only father they have ever known.
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Fatherhood is more than biology. There are sound and ethical reasons someone should be obligated to support a child who is not biologically his own.
To allow a father to shed his court-ordered obligations at any time during the child's life would inevitably harm children. (O)nce a man takes on a father's role, the innocent child's interest must prevail above all else.
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