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The Utah Legislature has approved a bill aimed at making it easier for an unwed birth father to find his children.

Already passed in the Senate, SB10 (first substitute) was given final approval Wednesday in the House on a 52-18 vote.

The bill, if signed by the governor, would enact the Compact for Interstate Sharing of Putative Father Registry, a registry to share information about birth fathers across more than 37 states. The goal is to make it easier for birth fathers to notify prospective adoptive parents that they are willing to give support to a child, before an adoption takes place. Registration would be entirely voluntary.

"In the event that you don't have a deadbeat dad, [it allows] someone who wants to be a good father and step up to the plate to at least notify that they are potentially a father for the child," said House sponsor Rep. Jacob Anderegg, R-Lehi.

Anderegg is a father of two adopted children himself and urged the House to vote in support of the bill. "It is very important to me to know that when a placement for an adoption takes place…the father isn't denied those rights, or later on the father doesn't show up and say, "You've adopted my child.'"

Rep. Merrill Nelson, R-Grantsville, opposed the bill, saying he helped create the statute regarding unwed fathers' rights and they are already fully covered under the law if they register paternity and say they will support the child.

"It seems to me like we are creating a bureaucracy here in Utah bending over backwards to protect the rights of unwed fathers … when our existing law provides full protection," Nelson said.

He also said the bill would further discourage fathers from marrying the mothers of their children, which the Utah Supreme has said is the best protection of a father's rights. "By fully accommodating unwed fathers, we discourage marriage as the first means to protect his rights," he said.

However, Anderegg reiterated that his legislation would not change adoption law or have any effect on marriage. It would only facilitate the sharing of information and make it easier for a father who wishes to support his children to find them, especially when the father and mother are "at odds" and the baby is born in a different state than the father's residency.

"As in any contract, time is of the essence," he said. "What this bill does is create greater clarifying information prior to the adoption."