Page 223

3219

MISSISSIPPI [ NON - FINANCIAL CRITERIA: DEPRIVATION]

The mother or other relative must then document her statements in some way or assist the worker

MISSISSIPPI [NON-FINANCIAL CRITERIA: DEPRIVATION]

Volume III | Chapter 3 Revised 08-01-06 to obtain substantiation by other means. This documentation may be that: 1. A birth certificate has the name of the father left blank, with the mother's maiden name given, and this information corresponds with the mother's statement of non-marriage to the putative father of the child. NOTE: The fact that the birth certificate has the name of the father does not necessarily mean that he is the legal parent. Unless the father was married to the mother or paternity has been established by court order or signing of the ASAP form, the legality of the relationship may not be determined. It is sometimes helpful when requesting a birth certificate from Vital Records to ask that the back of the certificate be copied also. This may contain a notarized admission of paternity allowing the father’s name to be on the birth certificate and will be helpful in getting legal paternity established. NOTE: The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 allows voluntary acknowledgments of paternity signed on and after August 22, 1996 to serve as legal findings of paternity subject to the right of either parent to rescind the acknowledgment within the earlier of 60 days or the date of a judicial proceeding relating to the child (including a proceeding to establish a support order) in which either parent is a party. 2. The mother or other relative gives an account of the relationship with an unnamed individual, along with substantiation that the mother had a relationship with this individual which resulted in the birth of the child. She may produce records, introduce statements or references, or use other means to establish that the child was born of such a relationship. 3. The mother is or was legally married, there has been no legal divorce, and the payee claims that a man other than the legal husband is the father. If she does not report the marriage at the time of birth, the birth certificate will not give the name of the father at all. According to Mississippi paternity law, the man to whom she is legally married is the legal father of any child born to that mother unless a court of law establishes otherwise. In such cases in which the Economic Assistance Office is aware of the legal marriage, the worker must initially report the legal husband to the Child Support Enforcement Office as the absent parent. The worker may send a message to alert the Child Support Office that