5 things you should know about Nonmarital Births and Paternity Establishment.

In the United States, more than 1.5 million children are born to unmarried parents each year. Many of these children will grow up in single-parent households, a backdrop that can adversely affect academic performance, emotional development, and long-term socioeconomic outcomes. Moreover, without specific legal action on the part of unmarried parents, these children will not share the same rights as children born to married parents. This list provides a primer on nonmarital births, highlighting some of the essential trends and legal considerations relevant to births that occur outside of marriage. (Author Abstract)