When a child is born to an unwed mother in Finland, the Population Register Centre informs the woman’s local social welfare office, which sends an invitation for the parents to come in to establish paternity.
In Finland fresh parents have two months to decide on a name and parents usually like to make paternity official ahead of christenings, said Hannele Keltanen a social worker in South Karelia.
"Establishing paternity gives children [born out of wedlock] the same rights as those born to married parents. This means they are able to take their father’s name and are able to inherit from their father and his side of the family," Keltanen explains.
Once paternity is ascertained, fathers are also liable to pay alimony until the child turns 18.
In decades past, social workers were known to grill new fathers, but procedures are less strict today.
"I ask how long they've lived together and how long they've dated. If they cohabited for more than nine months, it's a done deal," she said.
Officials want to hear the mother say that her partner is the only possible father for her child.
Things get more complicated when couples have cohabited for less than nine months. According to Keltanen, while mothers can always be certain of their own motherhood, the same certainty does not apply to men.
"We recommend a DNA test if there's any doubt in the man's mind regarding possible paternity," she said.
In such situations, the state offers DNA tests free of charge, but Keltanen also recommends the test for all non-married couples.
Sometimes single mothers don’t want to establish paternity. In this case the father has one year to bring his case to the lower courts, which will usually order a paternity test.