What steps must unmarried parents take to ensure that they are both considered the legal parents of their child?

To make sure that a child's biological parents are also the legal parents, both mother and father should be listed on the child's birth certificate. If you want to add a parent's name to a birth certificate, contact your state's Bureau of Vital Statistics. You can find this contact information by visiting the website of the National Center for Health Statistics.

In order to be listed on a child's birth certificate, most states require unmarried fathers to sign an affidavit or acknowledgment of paternity. In any case, it's a good idea for both parents to write, sign and notarize a statement acknowledging the father's paternity. You can take this one step further by contacting your state's Vital Statistics office and asking whether they keep paternity statements on file. If they do, make sure yours is filed.

Does a child born to unmarried parents qualify for government benefits?

Any biological or legal child is eligible for government benefits, including Social Security survivorship benefits, government pension benefits and the like. The key is to ensure birth certificate and paternity issues are resolved as soon as, or shortly after, the child's birth. (See the previous question.) Once that's done, you can be assured that if tragedy strikes you or your partner, your child will be covered. If you neglect to establish yourself as a legal parent -- for example, by failing to put your name on the birth certificate -- and your child seeks government benefits after your death, the agency may deny his or her request because there isn't any proof that you were the parent. At the very least, your child will have to deal with the hassles of proving parentage.