Answered by Our Attorneys

What Is the New York Putative Father Registry, and Should I File?

By Pieter G. Weinrieb, Esq. · Admitted NY 2005 · 42-hour certified family and divorce mediator · Published November 5, 2026

The short answer

The New York Putative Father Registry is a confidential state list, kept by the Office of Children and Family Services under Social Services Law §372-c. An unmarried man who thinks he may be a child’s father can file a notice of intent to claim paternity there, before or after the birth. Filing does one main thing: if anyone starts a proceeding to adopt that child, he must be given notice and a chance to be heard (Domestic Relations Law §111-a(2)(c)). It does not make him the legal father, and it does not give him custody, visitation or a duty to pay support. Those take an acknowledgment of parentage or a court order.

What the Putative Father Registry Is

“Putative” means supposed or claimed. A putative father is a man who believes he is the father of a child born to parents who were not married to each other, but whose fatherhood has not been legally established. Married parents rarely need it, because New York law presumes that a child born during a marriage is the spouse’s child.

Under Social Services Law §372-c(1), the registry records the names and addresses of four groups of people:

anyone a New York court has adjudicated to be the parent of a child born out of wedlock;
anyone who has filed a notice of intent to claim parentage of the child, before or after the birth;
anyone adjudicated the father by a court of another state, once a certified copy of that order is filed with the registry;
anyone who has filed an instrument acknowledging paternity with the registry.

The list is not public. The state gives the names and addresses only to a court or an authorized agency on request, and to anyone else only on a court order for good cause (SSL §372-c(5)). The mother, a new partner, or an employer cannot look you up.

What Filing With the Putative Father Registry Does

The registry exists for adoption. When someone asks a New York court to adopt a child born out of wedlock, Domestic Relations Law §111-a requires notice to a list of men who may be the father, and a man who has “timely filed an unrevoked notice of intent to claim paternity” is on that list (DRL §111-a(2)(c)). The court checks the registry before it signs the adoption order.

The notice has to reach you at least 20 days before the proceeding. If you cannot be served in person with reasonable effort, it can go by registered or certified mail to the address you gave the registry (DRL §111-a(4)). That is why the address on file matters. The statute requires you to keep it current (SSL §372-c(2)).

The notice tells you the time, date, place and purpose of the hearing, and warns that if you do not appear, the court treats it as a denial of your interest in the child and may approve the adoption without further notice (DRL §111-a(6)). An adoption order cannot later be undone at the request of a man who was properly served and did not show up (DRL §111-a(7)).

Registering can also matter when a child is in foster care. Where the child was placed with an agency through a surrender or a termination of parental rights case, a man who filed an unrevoked notice with the registry before that case was filed is one of the people whose consent the adoption requires (DRL §111(1)(e)(iv)).

What the Registry Does Not Do

This is where most of the confusion lives, so it is worth being plain:

It does not establish paternity. You are not the child’s legal father because you filed. You do not go on the birth certificate.
It does not give you custody or parenting time. There is no schedule, no right to see the child, and nothing the police or Family Court can enforce.
It does not, by itself, give you a veto over a private adoption. Outside the agency setting above, the notice under §111-a exists so you can give the court evidence about the child’s best interests (DRL §111-a(3)). Whether your consent is required depends on what you have actually done for the child: under DRL §111(1)(f), that turns on things like paying a fair share of support or pregnancy and birth expenses, visiting or communicating regularly, and openly living with the child or the mother and holding yourself out as the father.
It does not stay private if paternity is disputed later. Anyone other than you may offer your unrevoked notice as evidence in a case where it is relevant (SSL §372-c(4)), including a child support case.

You can withdraw a notice at any time. Once the registry receives the revocation, the notice is treated as if it had never been filed (SSL §372-c(3)).

Why It Matters: Lehr v. Robertson

The registry’s importance comes from a New York case that went to the U.S. Supreme Court. In Lehr v. Robertson, 463 U.S. 248 (1983), a father had not filed with the registry and did not fall into any of the groups entitled to notice. His child was adopted by the mother’s husband in Ulster County Family Court while he was pursuing a paternity case in another county. He argued the adoption violated his constitutional rights. The Court disagreed, reasoning that the right to notice was “completely within appellant’s control”: he could have guaranteed notice by mailing a postcard to the registry. The Court also said a biological link alone, without a developed relationship with the child, does not carry the same constitutional protection.

The practical lesson has not changed in more than 40 years. If you are not sure the law will see you, the registry is the inexpensive step that makes sure you are told before an adoption happens.

Who Should File, and Who Already Gets Notice

Many fathers already receive notice without registering. DRL §111-a(2) also covers a man who has been adjudicated the father; who appears on the birth certificate as the father; who is openly living with the child and the mother when the adoption is filed and holding himself out as the father; whom the mother has named as the father in a sworn written statement; who married the mother within six months after the birth (before a surrender or termination case); or who has filed an acknowledgment of paternity with the registry.

The registry matters most for a man who fits none of those, for example:

a father who learned of the pregnancy late or after the birth and is not on the birth certificate;
a father who has lost contact with the mother, or whose contact she is limiting;
a father who has reason to think the mother may place the child for adoption or that a new spouse may try to adopt.

One limit in the statute: a man convicted of first or second degree rape, or certain sexual offenses against a child, is not entitled to notice of an adoption of a child conceived as a result (DRL §111-a(1)).

How to File a Notice of Intent to Claim Paternity in New York

The filing is a short form, the Notice of Intent to Claim Paternity of a Child Born Out of Wedlock, which the Office of Children and Family Services publishes on its forms page (listed as OCFS-2724). It can be filed before or after the child is born (SSL §372-c(1)(b)), and it must include your current address (SSL §372-c(2)). Three things to do once it is filed:

Keep a copy and any proof of mailing.
Update the registry every time you move (SSL §372-c(2)). A notice sent to an old address can still count as proper notice.
Treat it as a first step, not the last one. If you want to be a parent in the legal sense, move on to establishing paternity.

Registering Versus Establishing Paternity

There are two ways to become a child’s legal father when the parents are not married. The first is a voluntary Acknowledgment of Parentage signed by both parents. Under Family Court Act §516-a(a), a filed acknowledgment establishes parentage and the duty of support with no court case. Either signer who was 18 or older may ask the court to vacate it within 60 days of signing, or by the date to answer in a case about the child if that comes first (FCA §516-a(b)(i)). After that, it can be challenged only for fraud, duress or material mistake of fact (FCA §516-a(b)(iv)).

The second is a paternity petition in Family Court, which usually means genetic testing and ends in an order of parentage. Either route gives you standing to ask for custody or parenting time and also creates a support obligation. Our paternity page walks through both, and our fathers’ rights page covers custody once paternity is established.

From our practice

Adoption cases involving an unmarried father in Erie County often come down to what he did, and when. In Matter of Matthew D., 31 A.D.3d 1103 (4th Dep’t 2006), Erie County Surrogate’s Court dismissed an adoption petition because the biological father was entitled to notice and his consent was required: he had acknowledged paternity from the start of the pregnancy, filed a paternity petition before the birth, and the mother admitted she hid the adoption plan from him. The Fourth Department affirmed, but two of the five justices would have reversed, pointing out among other things that he never filed with the registry. The adoption did not go forward, but only after a referee’s hearing and an appeal. A notice of intent filed early, followed by a paternity case, makes that fight much less likely. We represent fathers in paternity and custody cases across Western New York; see our Buffalo family law attorneys page.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the putative father registry in New York?

A confidential list kept by the NY Office of Children and Family Services under Social Services Law 372-c. An unmarried man who believes he is a child’s father can file a notice of intent to claim paternity, before or after the birth, so that he is notified if anyone tries to adopt the child.

Does registering with the putative father registry make me the legal father?

No. Filing gives you a right to notice of an adoption proceeding. It does not establish paternity, put you on the birth certificate, or give you custody, visitation or a support obligation. For that you need a signed Acknowledgment of Parentage or a Family Court order of parentage.

Can I file with the putative father registry before the baby is born?

Yes. Social Services Law 372-c(1)(b) allows a notice of intent to claim parentage to be filed before or after the birth of a child born out of wedlock. Keep your address current with the registry, because adoption notice can be mailed to the address on file.

Will the mother find out that I registered?

Not from the registry. The state gives registry names and addresses only to a court or an authorized agency, and to anyone else only by court order for good cause (SSL 372-c(5)). If an adoption is filed, though, you will be named as someone entitled to notice.

If I register, can I stop an adoption?

Not by registering alone, in most private adoptions. The notice lets you appear and give the court evidence about the child’s best interests. Whether your consent is required depends on your support, contact and relationship with the child under DRL 111. In agency adoptions after foster care, a filing made before the surrender or termination case can make your consent required.

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About the author

Pieter G. Weinrieb, Esq. has practiced divorce and family law in Western New York for more than 20 years. Admitted to the New York State Bar in 2005, he holds a J.D. from Pace Law School and an M.A. in Humanities from SUNY Buffalo, is a 42-hour certified family and divorce mediator, and serves on the Attorney for the Child panels in Erie and Niagara Counties. He founded Weinrieb Law in Williamsville in 2011. Read his full bio.