I accepting my fathering of my Germany baby

Question

Dear member ,

My son was born  27th January 2022 with my Germany woman, However I work in Ghana, but I came to Germany in December to see her. Can I do fathering recognition whiles I’m in Ghana and she been in Germany ?

Answer 1

Dear @Zingua,

Welcome to the Wefugees Community and thank you for reaching out to us.

Unfortunataly, I never came across a case in which the acknowledgement of the paternity was made while the father was not present in Germany. Usually, both parents need to be at the local authority (usually the so-called "Judendamt") for the respective appointment and provide the required documents (see also this thread for information in English). 

I tried to make some research, if the German Embassy in Ghana, for instance, is offering this service as well. However, they write on their website that they can only support in this when the father is German citizen and the child is living with the mother in Ghana. I will also try to do some further research. But for the meantime you may want to contact the German embassy directly to get the most reliable information. At the same time, your child's mother could contact the local "Jugendamt" or registry office (Standesamt) for an advice as well. As a "Plan B", you may consider to do the process when you are visiting Germany the next time.

 I will also link our dear @Alla_fka here: Are you familiar with these kind of constellations and/or do you have any information?

In any case, please also don't hesitate to get back to us with any further questions.

All the best,

Meike

Answer 2

Hello,

your German girl friend should probably make a statement with her local Jugendamt (the authority responsible for the welfare of children) that you are the father of the baby, giving them the details of your identity. You should take into account that the Jugendamt would be interested in your income because as an official father you are responsible for paying your part of child support (living costs), even if you don't take a custody of the child (the common responsibility with the mother to take important decisions for the child). That means that they can ask the mother to provide the details of your earnings / income if she applies for the state financial assistance.

They also can be interested in details of your relation to the mother (as a proof that it is your child) and if and how you plan to make relation to your child. The last is especially important if you plan to apply for a family reunion to your German child later.

As our councelling lawyer told me, Jugendamt can contact the German embassy in Ghana in terms of administrative legal assistance (Amtshilfe) so that the embassy can give you an appointment for making a statement about your fathership or they take your statement in another way. But the mother should make the first step.

She can also contact Standesamt (civil registry office) but Jugendamt is better because Jugendamt is specially responsible for child interests and probably will be more supportive.

Good luck!

Comments

Very interesting information, dear @Alla_fka! Great! Thank you for the research as well!