Poster #28 - Fighting to Be Recognized: Examining Georgia’s Legitimation Process as a Barrier to Father Involvement

• In Event: Saturday Poster Luncheon

Abstract

In 2023, over forty-three percent of children in the State of Georgia were born to unmarried parents (CDC, 2025). To assure paternal involvement in the lives of these children, Georgia legislators have enacted a legitimation process for fathers who are unmarried to the child’s mother at the time of birth. Legitimation is a legal process that grants parental rights, such as access to custody and visitation. In Georgia, unmarried biological fathers are required to petition for legitimation even when paternity has been established. The House Study Committee on the Affordability and Accessibility of Georgia’s Legitimation Process (2025) argues Georgia’s legitimation process discourages father involvement due to limited resources, cost burdens, and uneven awareness of legal requirements. These outcomes may be heightened by father’s racialized experiences, as seventy-one percent of children born to unwed parents in the state are Black. This study draws on qualitative interviews with fathers across Georgia, to illuminate lived experiences related to these statutory barriers. Fathers were selected for participation if they began the legitimation process and completed it or if they began and halted the process. The Administrative Burdens framework (Herd & Moynihan, 2019) was used to guide a directed content analysis of interview data. As a result of the learning costs, compliance costs, and psychological costs of the legitimation process, fathers consistently describe experiencing financial strain, emotional distress, and disrupted bonding with their children as they navigate a system with unclear processes and undesirable outcomes from the filing period to post-order period. The narratives presented in this study complement public testimony shared during the state’s 2025 House Study Committee hearings, where fatherhood practitioners and advocates detailed the toll of legitimation-related expenses, delays, and conflict. By integrating historical context, analysis of uneven county-level policy implementation, and paternal experiences, the study highlights how Georgia’s current legitimation process shapes father engagement, family stability, and child well‑being. Key policy implications and opportunities for reforms are discussed.

Author

• Qiana Renae Cryer-Coupet, Georgia State University
  Presenting Author