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Abstract

In the 1990s, due to a surge in nonmarital births and the related increase in child support assistance, Congress passed laws making federal aid to states contingent on accessible and standardized paternity establishment processes. This led to in-hospital voluntary paternity acknowledgments (VAPs), which made establishing paternity for child support easier. Federal funding required strict VAP processes, including a sixty-day rescission period and limited grounds for post-rescission challenges.

Voluntary parentage acknowledgments have since expanded to include non-genetic parents, like spouses and intended parents through assisted reproduction. Illinois' Parentage Act of 2015 regulates these acknowledgments. However, the Illinois Appellate Court case, Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services ex rel. Hull v. Robinson, revealed complexities with VAPs, particularly when a non-genetic father signed an Iowa VAP, leading to a child support reimbursement challenge from the actual genetic father in Illinois.

This Article critiques Illinois laws on voluntary paternity acknowledgments, proposing critical reforms. It starts with the Robinson case, exploring both explicit and implicit VAP issues. It then delves into Illinois' broader parentage acknowledgment framework, considering acknowledgments for children born from consensual sex and from nonsurrogacy and surrogacy assisted reproduction. The Article extends its analysis to the 2000 and 2017 Uniform Parentage Acts (UPAs) and other states' laws, providing a context for Illinois lawmakers. The Article posits reforms of Illinois laws on both paternity and maternity acknowledgments (i.e., those with relevant genetic ties) and on other parentage acknowledgments (i.e., those with no genetic ties), though recognizing a need for differentiating between the two types of acknowledgments.

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