• Governments usu. seek filiation orders so that some or all of the public funds spent on the child’s welfare can be recovered from a nonmarital child’s father. Until the early 20th century, municipalities, not the state, had the legal duty to support the poor, including unwed mothers and their children. In some states, two judges had to determine who an unacknowledged child’s father was before the municipality could recover its expenditures.
— Also termed affiliation order; order of filiation.
