I've written about this issue before.  Over half the states have some form of putative father registry.  Laws in those states require men who have had sex with a woman to whom they're not married to file a form with the state claiming paternity for any child who may be born as a result.  If he doesn't and the mother chooses to place the child for adoption, he has no right to notice of the adoption and therefore no opportunity to contest it.  In short, these laws exist to keep dad out of the loop in case of adoption.

And, as I've also written, these registries are, for the most part kept in the dark by the st Putative Father Registries ates that maintain them.  The State of Texas, where I live, budgets no funds to publicize its registry and even courts and state agencies charged with maintaining registry forms are ignorant of the most basic facts.  The last time I checked, there were over 110,000 births to unmarried women in Texas, but fewer than 300 men filed the form with the registry.  That's 0.27% or so.

And it looks like Ohio is equally diligent at obscuring its registry.  Here's a fine article about a man who, during paralegal training, just happened to find out about the Ohio Putative Father Registry.  It's the amazing and amusing story of his attempts to comply with the statute. 

He's smart, diligent and motivated.  Imagine what would happen if a man weren't all three.

And it occurs to me that it's a fair metaphor for fathers' rights in family courts generally.  They supposedly exist, but they're hard to locate and the state obstructs exercise of them at every turn.

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