When you father a child with someone in Michigan and the two of you are not in a marriage, you need to establish paternity if you want the same rights over your child that a married father would have. While establishing paternity may benefit you, the child’s father, it also leads to certain advantages for your son or daughter.

Per the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, establishing paternity helps give your son or daughter a stronger sense of identity. It also leads to many other benefits.

If parents are not married in Michigan, the mother automatically has custody of her child. The father may have to fight to remain a part of their child’s life, and proving paternity is necessary.

According to Psychology Today, children benefit in several ways from the presence of a father or father figure in their lives, whether he lives with them or not.

Now more than ever, fathers’ rights are a crucial aspect of marital relations and family dynamics. Society continues to change and progress. Through that, more people acknowledge the importance of having two active parents in a relationship.

Unfortunately, courts often still favor the mother over the father. But fathers’ rights are undeniably important, and a father’s place in a family is as crucial as a mother’s.

Bias in the courts

The Fathers’ Rights Movement discusses how crucial fathers’ rights are in current day society. It is also important to look at the type of harassment and discrimination that fathers face. Until the 1970s, custody battles rarely ever happened. From that point on, society established that both parents could hold financial responsibility. Fathers were also established as real parents during the emergence of custody battles.

But to this day, a bias for mothers and against fathers exists in the court system. Outdated ideology insists that mothers hold a more essential role in the life of the child. These ideals stereotype women as the caretakers and providers for the children. They prioritize the mother due to childbirth rights. Mothers do not have to face the uncertainty and stigma of unproven paternity, either.

A father’s role

But women are as capable of abuse, neglect and carelessness as men. Mothers can abuse children just as fathers can. It is unfair to fathers everywhere to automatically side with women due to their status as mothers.

Not only that, but studies often show that two-parent households raise more stable and happier children. These children experience greater financial stability and more emotional support. They often enjoy a smoother transition into adulthood.

For the sake of children, fathers’ rights must have protection. This is especially true in court, where fathers everywhere still have hurdles to overcome.