Fact Sheet # 7: THE LEGAL RIGHTS OF UNMARRIED FATHERS

Tony Rohr, the unmarried father of Pauline Collins' daughter, was told he had no rights.

It was a lie.

Unmarried fathers were told they had no rights. They were deliberately excluded from the decision making process about their infant son or daughter.
Church run Unmarried Mothers Homes denied them access to their child.
Social Workers and Moral Welfare Workers did not discuss their options with them. Why? Because they were considered a potential threat to the adoption of their illegitimate baby.

Unknown to unmarried fathers, they were legally entitled to apply for access to and/or custody of their baby.

Unmarried mother, actress Pauline Collins, gave birth to baby Louise in 1964 and reluctantly decided on adoption.
Unmarried father, actor Tony Rohr, wanted to keep his daughter and made enquiries at the Roman Catholic Crusade of Rescue. They told him that the father of an illegitimate baby did not have the power to do anything to keep his child.
It was a lie and the extent of this lie is a matter of Public Record.

The 1959 Legitimacy Act gave Tony Rohr the legal right
to apply for Custody of his baby daughter Louise.

In England, the Court of Appeal awarded an unmarried father custody of his baby in 1966. The Court ruled that the infant would lose an important factor in the development of its personality if it was not brought up by its natural father.

It was the Guardian ad Litem's responsibility to inform the Court if the unmarried father intended to exercise his legal rights, but in order that an unmarried father could exercise his legal rights he had first to be informed of them.
The fathers of illegitimate babies were as unaware of their legal rights as unmarried mothers.

In Scotland, the Illegitimate Children Act gave unmarried fathers the right to apply for custody of their baby in 1930.

Copyright © Patricia Basquill, 2002 - 2008