This brief history of paternity contributes to the understanding of some laws, traditions and beliefs that have influenced fatherhood since the Roman Empire. How did husbands and fathers utilise the power vested upon them within the family sphere? To what extent certain laws and traditions have affected their role within the nuclear and extended family? How did their responsibilities evolve into today’s rapidly-changing Western societies? These questions justified our initial interest in the matter and the MSW thesis that I then completed (St-Denis-Patry, 2002). Seven years later and with the assistance of my thesis director, we chose to re-address some paternity issues with the intention of looking at contemporary challenges related to fatherhood: divorce, single parenthood, shared custody, etc. As well as its historical dimension, this article proposes a reflection on what constitutes fatherhood in our 21st century and then proposes case studies that confirm the importance of these complex matters in social work.