Excerpt
Unlike married fathers and all mothers (married and unmarried), unmarried fathers have to apply to the courts to be granted Parental Responsibility (formally described as 'the rights and responsibilities of being a parent'). Without this legal document, they cannot order (or object to) medical treatment for their child, or prevent it being taken abroad or into local authority care, or being given up for adoption or having its name changed. Yet none of this is explained to the unmarried father, either when his child is born, or when the birth is registered.
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