When a child is born to an unmarried woman, the Mother is the sole custodian of the child. If a Father wishes to be named custodian or have any visitation rights with his child, he must establish paternity and file for Allocation of Parental Rights and Responsibilities in juvenile court in the county where the minor child resides.
If a father signed a paternity affidavit at the time the child was born, then he has already established paternity. If a child support order has been established, CSEA likely established paternity through a DNA test or affidavit. If neither of these events took place, then the father will likely need to file for the establishment of paternity with the Court.
Until the father is named custodian by the court or granted visitation rights, he has not right to make decisions for or have visitation with his child. Alternately, if the father already has a Court order and Mother is in violation, then the appropriate action would be to file a Motion to Show Cause, essentially a contempt action with the Court. Sometimes local police will enforce a Court order but many times they will refuse as they see it as a civil matter.
The above is for information purposes only and is not intended to create an attorney client relationship.
Answered on Jun 17th, 2013 at 1:34 PM