Following on this new legislation, if a mother now attends without the father to register her child’s birth, the Registrar will ask her for contact details of the father. The Registrar will then make ‘all reasonable efforts’ to contact the father and invite him to attend the Registrar’s Office within 28 days in order to complete the registration. Only in exceptional cases, where ‘compelling reasons’ are provided, will the father’s name be omitted.
