Comments on: A Brief Note On “Illegitimacy”

By: Roy

Roy — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 13:42:52 +0000

I get so angry in the whole “children *need* two parents (ideally a man and a woman, of course)” comments.

Even if we lived in an ideal world where couples were always happy and healthy, and were always perfect parents to their offspring, I fail to see why children *need* more than one, but fewer than three parents in order to be well adjusted, healthy children.

I see plenty of children from “alternative” families that seem to be doing just fine. Single parents homes. Same gender parent homes. Homes where there are more than two primary care givers. My sister is raising her daughter without the father, but my niece is living with an uncle and a set of grandparents in addition to her mother. They’re all helping with the raising of my niece. Are people going to tell my sister that her child isn’t healthy or isn’t getting great care, despite the fact that she’s got a strong support network helping her, and that her daughter is around people who love and support her rather than with the abusive drunk that was the father?

By: La Lubu

La Lubu — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 12:03:56 +0000

zuzu, I don’t know how they do it in NY, but in Illinois, there were two reps from the Department of Public Aid (now, it’s called Healthcare and Family Services) walking into my hospital room not long after the anaesthesia (from my emergency C-section) wore off—because I was unmarried. They figure that the father may show up at the hospital. They had the paperwork all ready and everything, and all he needed to do was sign on the dotted line to acknowledge paternity.

And you know what? I’m glad they did. My daughter’s father is dead now, and so she receives Social Security. It’s the only form of child support she ever received.

By: Roadrunner

Roadrunner — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 02:03:48 +0000

Damn straight, Lauren. You should see the looks people still give me when I tell them my parents were never married. Now, granted, they were together longer than my mother was married to my half-sister’s father, but my sister doesn’t get those looks; and it’s not like they were young, either–they were both 29 when I was born. They just didn’t get married. And somehow, I haven’t landed in jail. Yet. There’s still time!

By: zuzu

zuzu — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 01:34:41 +0000

Well, at least “illegitimacy” is better than “bastardy,” which was the prior term. I know this because early in my career, I had to research the issue of what was required to establish that a child born out of wedlock was entitled to bring suit for damages for her father’s death. And in the old digests (electronic research was very expensive back then, so we did a lot via paper), they give you all the former names which the topic has been listed under. So “Children Born Out of Wedlock” referenced “Illegitimacy” and “Bastardy.”

Socially, there’s no reason that “illegitimacy” needs to be used anymore, but legally, it’s still necessary to establish paternity when the parents are unmarried; paternity is presumed where the parents are married (even if the husband isn’t actually the father). It’s something that establishes and protects the child’s claim to not only support, but inheritance and rights to sue for damages, among other things.