Birth certificate advice needed please

[Flyingtigeress]

Hi, I'm in need of some help and advice. I will try and make this as short as I can.

So my partner (not my sons father) is in prison after pleading guilty for sex offences with minors. Because of this a social worker has been involved. Now she wants to put his biological father onto my sons birth certificate. My son is 4. We were not married and he wasn't planned. In all honesty we weren't even together or had a relationship with each other when my son was conceived. He saw my son a couple times and then after his 1st birthday he ran off to XXXXX (I'm in XXXX). My sons grandma on his dad's side sees my son about every 2-3 weeks and has done since he was about 2. My social worker wants to put his father on the birth certificate and I really don't want this. Would we have to go to court for this to happen or can she just simply do it? He's had no involvement in my sons life and they don't even know each other. Some advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks

[Suzie, FRG Adviser]

Dear Flyingtigeress

Thank you for your post, I am sorry for the delaying in responding to you.

In normal circumstances social workers cannot add individuals to a child’s birth certificate, biological parents can do this, soon after a child is born, through an agreement, or through a court order. Here is our advice sheet about Parental Responsibility which will tell you more.

With reference to your partner Parents Protect and Lucy Faithful are websites that may be useful to you and if as you say your partner is in prison, Unlock may be useful too.

Best wishes

Suzie