‘Unknown fathers’ decline by 5% in 2009

Single mothers who fail to register fathers have often been accused of doing so to benefit from welfare. In December 2009, the Social Affairs Committee proposed that mothers should not have the option of registering children as having an unknown father, but stopped short of explaining how this measure is to be implemented. 

But heightened awareness on this issue alone seems to have had the desired outcome of reducing children registered as having an unknown father.

Although the number of births outside marriage increased by a staggering 8% when compared to 2008, the number of registered births with an unknown father decreased by 5% in the same period.

In 2009 a total of 1,134 births outside wedlock were registered up from 1048 in 2008.  But the number of birth with unknown paternity has dropped from 352 to 336.

Among children with a Maltese mother unknown father registration dropped by a significant 7%.

Children registered as having unknown fathers still account for 30% of all registered births outside marriage.

Births to mothers aged under 20 also increased by 4% in 2009. 93% of these births occurred outside marriage. Despite this increase, there was a sharp 10% drop in children born to young mothers under 20 who registered their children as having an unknown father.

Significantly the number of births to fathers aged under 20 also increased by 20 per cent in 2009.

Critics of the proposed clampdown on single mums have pointed out that by removing the “father unknown” option, the government risks giving abusive fathers the chance to interfere in the life of the mother and her children.

In the face of criticism, social affairs committee chairman Edwin Vassallo insisted that the document was not a “fait accompli”.

Contacted by MaltaToday in January, sociologist Angele Degaura warned that “the mother should have the right to protect herself and her child if she deems it necessary. At the same time, fathers who feel they are unjustly deprived of their children should have the opportunity to prove they are the fathers if they are willing to support the child.”