Parents who pay child support when their children are very young are more likely to continue to pay support until the child becomes an adult. If the parents do not establish parentage as soon as possible after the birth, the father may decide to deny parentage. It is important for emotional reasons as well as financial reasons to establish parentage as soon as possible. Some of these are Social Security, pension, inheritance rights, veterans benefits and life insurance. Unless parentage has been established, the child may not be able to get these benefits.
Children benefit from the moral and emotional support of both parents.
One of these is child support. A child in a separated family is legally entitled to child support. Before the court can establish a child support order, parentage must be legally established. Even if a family does not receive ANFC, the custodial parent may ask OCS to establish a child support order and collect child support for no fee. It is important to legally establish parentage for reasons other than child support.