This legal opinion serves as a supplement to the more detailed analysis set forth
in POMS PR 01210.041 Oregon, A. PR 23-007 Status of Child: Use of Oregon Birth Certificate to Presume
a Written Acknowledgment or Court Order for Section 216(h)(3) Child Status and POMS
GN 00306.120 (Aug. 4, 2023).
Under current Oregon law regarding the mandatory registration of births:
(b) If the birth mother is not married at the time of either conception or live birth,
or within 300 days before the live birth, the name of the other parent shall not be
entered on the live birth report unless a voluntary acknowledgment of paternity form
or other form prescribed under [Oregon Revised Statutes] 432.098 is:
(A) Signed by the birth mother and the person to be named as the other parent, and
(B) Filed with the State registrar.
…
(d) In any case in which paternity or parentage of a child is determined by a court
of competent jurisdiction, or by an administrative determination of paternity or parentage,
the Center for Health Statistics shall enter the name of each parent on the new record
of live birth. The Center for Health Statistics shall change the surname of the child
if so ordered by the court or, in a proceeding under [Oregon Revised Statutes] 25.550,
by the administrator as defined in [Oregon Revised Statutes] 25.010.
Or. Rev. Stat. § 432.088(9)(b), (d) (effective Jan. 1, 2018, to present).
Although this law concerning compulsory registration of births has been renumbered
and amended over the years and the form of the acknowledgment has changed from an
affidavit of paternity to an acknowledgment of paternity, the basic requirement for
a written acknowledgment by both the birth mother and father or a court order of paternity
to name a father on a birth certificate for a non-marital child born to an unmarried
birth mother has been in effect in Oregon law since 1983. See Or. Rev. Stat. § 432.205(4), (5) (Amended by Laws 1979, c. 426, § 2; Laws 1983, c.
709, § 6; Laws 1995, c. 514, § 5; repealed by Laws 1997, c. 783, § 22); Or. Rev. Stat.
§ 432.206(5), (6) (Laws 1997, c. 783, § 23, enacted in lieu of § 432.205; Laws 1999,
c. 254, § 2; Laws 1999, c. 840, § 1; Laws 2001, c. 455, § 24; Laws 2013, c. 366, §
10); Or. Rev. Stat. § 432.088 (renumbered from § 432.206 in 2013 by the Legislative
Counsel; Amended by Laws 2014, c. 45, § 51, effective July 1, 2014; Laws 2015, c.
629, § 50, effective Jan. 1, 2016; Laws 2017, c. 651, § 45, effective Jan. 1, 2018).[1]