This question came about as she went to get him baptised and the priest said that the fathers consent need to be gained... basically she is worried that she is going to continually 'consult' him for and gain his consent for throughout her bubbas life as he is the father and would rather not go down the track of CS if it meant that this was going to be the case.
I did not need my two oldest boys father's consent to have them baptised in a Catholic church. It did need to go outside my own parish as our parish priest would not baptise "bastard" children (even though I had been married to their dad but in an Anglican church) - and after he called them that I wouldn't have wanted him to. As the priest who did baptise them said every child should have to right to be baptised, regardless of the parents.