Who Knew I Was Not the Father? Press Releases about DNA Testing

The New York Times Magazine, November 17, 2009 - Who Knew I Was Not the Father

What makes a man a father? And does that change when biology is not on your side?

This New York Times article looks at several cases of men who found out that the children they had raised as their own where not biologically related to them. Along with the feelings of betrayal that come from the exposure of infidelity after a negative DNA Paternity test, men grapple with changing roles in "their" children's lives. For some, though they desire to care for and maintain relationships with the son or daughter they have grown to love, they struggle with the fairness of paying child support for another man's child. In some cases, the injustice of paying money to the woman who misled them in so many ways is more than they can bear and rifts are created in the father's relationship with his children.

Adding to this, is the fact that DNA Paternity Testing does not always trump other situations when determining who will be responsible for the financial needs of the children when a marriage breaks up. In many places, the husband of the woman giving birth is presumed to be the father, and even later DNA Paternity Testing does not change the view of the state. This articles details the story of a man, paying child support for a daughter that is not biologically his, to his ex-wife, who is remarried to the child's biological father. Such cases are not as un-common as you might think.

With DNA paternity tests available over the counter at your local drug store, and costing only a couple hundred dollars some are asking if DNA paternity testing should be standard for all babies at birth. While deception would still be un-covered it would be un-covered early on, and possibly lead to less heartbreak down the road, both for fathers, and for the children that have grown to love them. Others feel that this could cause even more rifts in the family.

Read more, and share your opinion on the ways DNA paternity testing and child support law can both separate, and strengthen family bonds.