Registry answers question: Who’s your daddy?

Cy Ryan and Ed Koch

Wednesday, May 16, 2007 | 7:13 a.m.

CARSON CITY - Here's a twist on the old saying "Mommy's baby. Daddy's? Maybe."

Nevada lawmakers are considering a registry for men who want to go on the record as the possible fathers of children born out of wedlock.

The measure, Senate Bill 67, has something for each parent: It would provide notice to an interested potential father who might not otherwise have any say in the matter, of the mother's attempt to adopt out the child, and allow the mother to more quickly expedite adoption proceedings when the father has flown the coop.

The putative father issue made national headlines this year after the death of Playboy Playmate Anna Nicole Smith and the orphaning of her daughter , Dannielynn, the potential heiress to the fortune of Smith's late nonagenarian tycoon husband, J. Howard Marshall.

Several men claimed to be the baby's father, including Smith's attorney, Howard K. Stern; Zsa Zsa Gabor's husband, Frederic Prinz von Anhalt; former Smith bodyguard Alexander Denk; and former boyfriend Larry Birkhead - who prevailed in the paternity test.

While Nevada may not see such sensational cases, experts believe SB67 would make the playing field fairer for all parties.

"In many cases, it will move along the proceedings and get children adopted faster," said Sen. Warren Hardy, R-Las Vegas, who sponsored the bill after a constituent, Wayne Keele of LDS Family Services, which handles adoptions, told him of flaws in the existing law.

Hardy said similar registries exist in other states.

According to adoptioninstitute.org, half of states already have putative father registries (Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Wisconsin and Wyoming).

SB67, which was introduced in the Senate Judiciary Committee on Feb. 2 and advanced on April 13, was heard Monday by the Senate Finance Committee, which decided to hold the bill until a cost estimate is prepared by the state's health division, which would run the registry.

If the bill makes it out of committee, it still has to be passed by the full Senate and go through the Assembly before it can be signed into law.

The registry is expected to cost the state about $43,000 during a two-year period to pay for a part-time staff member, mailing, adopting the regulations and printing the new forms. The bill also calls for a marketing campaign to inform Nevadans that the registry exists.

After the baby's birth, the father would have three days to register his name to be eligible for court notifications on issues involving child adoption and paternal rights.

Sen. Bob Coffin, D-Las Vegas, questioned whether that is adequate time for a man who may not know he has fathered the child.

"The three-day limit is very, very short," Coffin said Monday.

Hardy replied : "I would submit to you that nine months and three days is enough time for a father who wants to be responsible ... If he doesn't know, he's not spending much time with the mom."

Although the bill would allow a man to claim to be the father, it would not automatically make him financially responsible for raising a child who, in the end, might turn out not to be his.

The actual paternity issue still would have to be proven by medical tests and subsequent court action, as it is now.

The proposed law defines a putative father as a person who "is alleged to be the father of an illegitimate child; is not the presumed father of the child (and) has not acknowledged paternity of the child."

The bill simply would force the courts to provide a signer of the registry with notice of adoption hearings, particularly those where his parental rights might be terminated.

Hardy said the present system puts "the mother at a significant disadvantage" because if she wants to put an out-of-wedlock child up for adoption, efforts must first be made to find the father before his parental rights can be dissolved.

"If (the man) finds out his girlfriend is pregnant and he flees ... then (the) young lady has a very difficult situation on her hands," Hardy said. With SB67 , "she can make the sole decision" if the father does not register.

Ryan reported from Carson City and Koch from Las Vegas.