All too frequently in calls regarding child support, I hear fathers tell me that they accepted parental responsibility at birth, at the hospital, without any genetic testing being completed. Sometimes they're sure, sometimes they're just guessing, sometimes they're just plain duped. Of course, all too often, by the time someone actually thinks to test, many years have gone by and a firm parental relationship is established.
Paternity fraud is a very real thing and presents serious challenges to courts and families. Countless articles have been written about it; according to several of them, the number of cases where parentage becomes an issue is staggering.
Take, for instance, the number of men who find out that they aren't fathers just by doing quick, noninvasive swab tests, some admissible, some not. This New York Times article reported this startling fact:
"Over the last decade, the number of paternity tests taken every year jumped 64 percent, to more than 400,000. That figure counts only a subset of tests - those that are admissible in court and thus require an unbiased tester and a documented chain of possession from test site to lab. Other tests are conducted by men who, like Mike, buy kits from the Internet or at the corner Rite Aid, swab the inside of their cheeks and that of their putative child's and mail the samples to a lab. Of course, the men who take the tests already question their paternity, and for about 30 percent of them, their hunch is right."
It is to everyone's advantage to take these tests at the birth of each child. The certainty of the information assures good decisionmaking regarding child support and finality for both parents and child. In order to assure the best possible outcome from such tests, this office stands ready to assist in all facets of those plans.