1. Introduction

It is commonly believed that parents have special duties toward their children--weightier duties than they owe other children. How these duties are acquired, however, is not well understood. This is problematic when claims about parental responsibilities are challenged; for example, when people deny that they are morally responsible for their biological offspring. In this paper I present a theory of the origins of parental responsibilities that can resolve such cases of disputed moral parenthood.

I begin by explaining the case of accidental fathers--men who took all the precautions they were expected to but still impregnated their partners. This case ...