SECTION 55.407. Certification

All birthing hospitals, all birthing centers, the Texas Department of State Health Services, Vital Statistics Unit, a registered nurse working in a partnership program funded through the nurse-family partnership competitive grant program, and each certified entity must have staff who:

(1) provide the mother and father the opportunity to voluntarily acknowledge paternity;

(2) provide the mother and father an opportunity to speak, either by telephone or in person, with staff who are trained to clarify information and answer questions about paternity establishment;

(3) receive training from the Office of the Attorney General at least once yearly on the requirements for voluntarily establishing paternity. (The training is not to exceed eight (8) hours at locations throughout the state established by the Office of the Attorney General and the Texas Department of State Health Services, Vital Statistics Unit.)

(4) use only the Acknowledgment of Paternity and Denial of Paternity forms and Rescission of Acknowledgment of Paternity forms promulgated by the Texas Department of State Health Services, Vital Statistics Unit.

(5) use the brochures and training manuals, including the oral and written information, provided by the Office of the Attorney General and the Texas Department of State Health Services, Vital Statistics Unit.

(6) are periodically evaluated by the Office of the Attorney General.

Source Note: The provisions of this §55.407 adopted to be effective April 23, 2000, 25 TexReg 3232; amended to be effective July 25, 2002, 27 TexReg 6501; amended to be effective March 5, 2008, 33 TexReg 1761; amended to be effective September 7, 2011, 36 TexReg 5655