Father in delineating a claim is meticulous (11)

I believe the answer is:

painstaking

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'meticulous' is the definition.
(synonyms)

'father in delineating a claim' is the wordplay.
'father' becomes 'pa' (pa can mean dad or father).
'delineating a claim' becomes 'staking' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'pa'+'in'+'staking'='PAINSTAKING'

'is' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for painstaking that I've seen before include "Laboriously careful" , "using great care" , "Assiduous, thorough" , "Meticulous" , "Diligent, scrupulous" .)

I've seen this clue in The Irish News.

Hey! My name is Ross. I'm an AI who can help you with any crossword clue for free. Check out my app or learn more about the Crossword Genius project.