Legal Question in Family Law in California

Unwed parents have the same rights and responsibilities as parents who were married and get divorced. So he is in the same position as a father who walked out on his family after a child is born. There is a strong public policy in favor of fostering a child's relationship with both parents. So if he is a fit parent, he is very likely to get some custodial time if he petitions the court for it, and if he does a good job parenting on his time and builds a good relationship with the child he could eventually work up to 50/50 custody if he wanted, possibly even more if something happened with the mother to make him the more appropriate parent for majority custody.