Hospital and birthing center staff play an important role in helping unmarried parents establish paternity. Both federal and state laws require hospitals to provide unmarried parents with the information and forms necessary to acknowledge paternity voluntarily, as well as to have trained staff on hand to answer their questions. POP supports and works closely with each hospital and birthing center in New Jersey to ensure these facilities are equipped to assist unmarried parents with establishing paternity.

POP collaborates with other agencies such as Vital Statistics, health departments, child support, WIC, and legal services to promote awareness of paternity establishment. Our goal is to ensure families have access to all available options and resources, no matter where they turn for that information. To that end, we partner with public agencies to share information about paternity, make them aware of our services and provide referrals − connecting parents with the resources and support they need, whether that’s getting information about genetic testing, completing a COP, or requesting a birth certificate.  

POP works together with pregnancy centers, OB/GYNs, midwives, fatherhood programs, health clinics, early child development programs, re-entry programs, and many more programs that work with unmarried parents both before and after the child’s birth. These key partners help us educate and prepare unmarried parents before they arrive at the hospital and afterwards if they were unable to establish paternity at the hospital.