Legal Question in Family Law in California

The father obtains no citizenship rights whatsoever by virtue of a child being born a U.S. citizen. However, the issues you mention, such as custody and child support or reimbursements have nothing to do with citizenship. It makes absolutely no difference if you are a citizen or not, or even whether you are here legally or not when it comes to parental rights and obligations. His name could be Smith and his family could have come over on the Mayflower, or his name could be Chang, or Orlovski, or Lopez, or even Smith, and he could have arrived on a flight at SFO the day before she became pregnant, it would make absolutely no difference in the way the law treats his legal rights and duties as a parent. In fact the law treats all parents the same whether married or not too. Custody and visitation is ordered based on the agreement of the parents, or if they cannot agree the court must decide what is in the best interests of the child as far as a custody and visitation schedule. Then child support is calculated based on the relative incomes of the parties and their respective time with the child in the custody orders. If the other parent has been receiving government assistance, the Dept. of Child Support Services will enforce the support order and collect the money as reimbursement first, and then anything more will be paid to the supported parent. That's how it works if you get divorced or if you are never married, if you are a citizen, a legal resident or an illegal -- all the same.