The Rights of Unmarried Parents - Wyoming

Definitions

Citation: Ann. Stat. § 1-22-101

A 'parent' is the child's birth parent or other parent whose parental rights have not been judicially terminated.

A 'putative father' is the alleged or reputed other parent of a child born out of wedlock, regardless of whether the parentage rights and obligations of the other parent have been judicially determined.

Use of Parentage Registries

Citation: Ann. Stat. § 1-22-117

The Department of Family Services shall establish a putative father registry that shall record the names and addresses of the following:

• Any person adjudicated by a court of this State to be the other parent of a child born out of wedlock
• Any person who has filed with the registry, before or after the birth of a child out of wedlock, a notice of intent to claim parentage of the child
• Any person adjudicated by a court of another State or territory of the United States to be the other parent of an out-of-wedlock child, when a certified copy of the court order has been filed with the registry by that person or any other person
• Any person who has filed with the registry an instrument acknowledging parentage

An unrevoked notice of intent to claim parentage of a child may be introduced in evidence by any party, other than the person who filed such notice, in any proceeding in which such fact may be relevant.

Alternate Means to Establish Parentage

Citation: Ann. Stat. §§ 1-22-108; 14-2-702; 14-2-705

The putative other parent has no right to assert parentage in adoption, dependency, or termination of parental rights proceedings unless any of the following apply:

• They are known and identified by the birth parent or agency.
• They have lived with or married the birth parent after the birth of the child and prior to the filing of the petition to adopt.
• Prior to the interlocutory hearing of the adoption proceedings, they have acknowledged the child as their own by affirmatively asserting parentage or registering as a putative other parent.

The court shall order the child and other designated individuals to submit to genetic testing if the request for testing is supported by the sworn statement of a party to the proceeding, as follows:

• Alleging parentage and stating facts establishing a reasonable probability of the requisite sexual contact between the individuals
• Denying parentage and stating facts establishing a possibility that sexual contact between the individuals, if any, did not result in the conception of the child

A person is rebuttably identified as the genetic parent of a child if the genetic testing complies with this article and the results indicate that the person has at least a 99 percent probability of parentage.

Required Information

Citation: Ann. Stat. § 1-22-117

A person filing a notice of intent to claim parentage of a child or an acknowledgment of parentage shall include therein their current address and shall notify the registry of any change of address pursuant to procedures prescribed by regulations of the department.

Revocation of Claim to Parentage

Citation: Ann. Stat. § 1-22-117

A person who has filed a notice of intent to claim parentage may at any time revoke a notice of intent to claim parentage previously filed therewith and, upon receipt of the notification by the registry, the revoked notice of intent to claim parentage shall be deemed null and void.

Access to Information

Citation: Ann. Stat. § 1-22-117

The department shall, upon request, provide the names and addresses of persons listed with the registry to any court or authorized agency, and such information shall not be divulged to any other person, except upon order of a court for good cause shown.