(a) The Department of Child Support Services, in consultation with the State Department of Health Care Services, the California Association of Hospitals and Health Systems, and other affected health provider organizations, shall work cooperatively to develop written materials to assist providers and parents in complying with this chapter. These written materials shall be updated periodically by the Department of Child Support Services to reflect changes in law, procedures, or public need.
(b) The written materials for unmarried parents or parents of a child conceived through assisted reproduction that shall be attached to the form specified in Section 7574 and shall contain the following information:
(1) A signed voluntary declaration of parentage that is filed with the Department of Child Support Services legally establishes parentage.
(2) The legal rights and obligations of both parents and the child that result from the establishment of parentage.
(3) An alleged father’s constitutional rights to have the issue of parentage decided by a court; to notice of any hearing on the issue of parentage; to have an opportunity to present the alleged father’s case to the court, including the right to present and cross-examine witnesses; to be represented by an attorney; and to have an attorney appointed if the alleged father cannot afford one in a parentage action filed by a local child support agency.
(4) That by signing the voluntary declaration of parentage, the father is voluntarily waiving the father’s constitutional rights.
(c) Parents shall also be given oral notice of the rights and responsibilities specified in subdivision (b). Oral notice may be accomplished through the use of audio- or video-recorded programs developed by the Department of Child Support Services to the extent permitted by federal law.
(d) The Department of Child Support Services shall, free of charge, make available to hospitals, clinics, and other places of birth all informational and training materials for the program under this chapter, as well as the declaration of parentage form. The Department of Child Support Services shall make training available to every participating hospital, clinic, local registrar of births and deaths, and other place of birth no later than June 30, 1999.
(e) The Department of Child Support Services may adopt regulations, including emergency regulations, necessary to implement this chapter.
(Amended by Stats. 2023, Ch. 131, Sec. 60. (AB 1754) Effective January 1, 2024.)