What is parental authority and how can I as father obtain parental authority over my child?

You aren’t married to the mother of the child? Then you do not automatically get parental authority after acknowledging the child. Without parental authority, you cannot help decide about raising your child. Nor can you act as his or her legal representative. For this, first you have to apply for parental authority. To ensure that both parents have the same legal status regarding their child, joint parental custody has to be requested. The main conditions are that the child must be acknowledged by the father and the mother has to agree with the request. Parents can request joint custody via the Guardianship Council.  The CN Guardianship Council processes your request and draws up official documents which parents can submit to the Court in order to request joint custody.