Establishment of a parent-child relationship is done when parents have children together and are not, or never have been, married to each other. These situations are called Parentage cases and are covered under the Illinois Parentage statute. A parent-child relationship can be established at any time prior to a child’s 18th birthday and must be established before a legal obligation for child support can be set by the Court or any formal and enforceable parenting time will be ordered by the Court. A person can voluntarily acknowledge that they are the child’s parent. This is often done at the hospital at the time of birth and is commonly referred to as a “VAP”, or Voluntary Acknowledgement of Parentage.
A parent-child relationship can be determined with or without a VAP and/or with or without a parent’s name on the birth certificate.