paternityexpress.com

It is becoming more and more import to have a father sign and document that a child is truly his biological child while he is alive and able to speak and act for himself.  Tragedy doesn’t give us warnings when it is about to strike, and many mothers, especially single mothers, are caught in a situation where legal paternity of a child was not established (i.e., the father of their child did not have his name put on their child’s birth certificate thus publicly declaring that he fathered their child) and he dies suddenly.  They are rudely awakened when they find out how important it is when they visit their local Social Security Office and are told that their child “is not” the deceased person’s child and they do not have proof to say otherwise.  Although they know it for sure; they must prove it to the authorities.  Because they really do not have any proof . . . even when members of the deceased man’s family may provide them affidavits that the deceased acknowledged to them that he fathered the child; they must provide some material proof such as a DNA paternity test which provides indisputable proof, provided the DNA test was done following the strict “chain of custody” method.  If you ever find yourself in this situation . . .

Don’t panic, paternity testing may still be performed if the mother wishes and is willing to do a few things to help her situation.  If the deceased person died suddenly or as a result of a crime, an accident, suicide, or long illness or if he died in a hospital, it is likely that an autopsy was performed.  A blood card or other suitable forensic specimen may be obtained from the hospital, or medical examiner / coroner who performed an autopsy on the deceased.  The hospital, coroner, or medical examiner can provide the necessary chain-of-custody documentation by completing and signing a few documents which attests to the collection of and the unbroken chain of custody of samples being turned over to a lab for DNA testing; most testing labs will even provide these forms.  Of course, the mother and the next of kin of the deceased would need to complete a few documents requesting the hospital, coroner / medical examiner turn over a “blood card” or qualifying “forensic sample” from which a DNA profile of the alleged father may be taken for comparison with the child.  They also must sign documents giving the testing lab the authority to do the DNA paternity test between the deceased samples and the child in question.  The child’s DNA samples also must be collected using the strict chain-of-custody method in order for the lab to issue a “legal” paternity report which may be presented to Social Security and also is admissible in court.

Even when the family refuses to give permission for the mother to get a sample of the deceased’s DNA for testing, the mother can turn to the courts and ask for an order to secure the release of the deceased’s DNA for paternity testing.  Of course she would need to tell the court the purpose for her request and provide proof such as the Social Security documentation which would clearly show that there was a need to prove that the deceased was the biological father of the child presented to Social Security to obtain benefits.

There are other tests which include but are not limited to  family reconstruction, avuncular, and Grandparentage which may provide proof of a child’s paternity, however, nothing beats the alleged father’s direct participation . . . even when it is done post mortem.

When an alleged father refuses to cooperate in Paternity DNA testing, or the child in question is older, and you don’t want them to know that their paternity is in question, a Secret DNA test can help.  However, the secret DNA test can not be legal, i.e., the results of any such testing cannot be used in a court of law or for any formal government purposes such as child support, social security claims, immigration, etc.  The secret DNA testing is equivalent to the peace-of-mind or home DNA test where participants simply need to know for personal knowledge and do not need a document for court; they may or may not collect the samples themselves and / or had access to the collected samples; instead they simply obtain an article / item used by the person or persons they want to test.  It is exactly what the name implies . . . secret . . . expressly for the knowledge of the person requesting the test.  There are three scenarios in which the secret DNA testing may be employed:

First Scenario:  An item from the alleged father, is obtained in secret and this item is tested for DNA. A control swab is also submitted for the child.

Second Scenario:  An item used by the child is obtained in secret and this item is submitted for DNA testing. A control swab is also submitted for the father.

Third Scenario:   A secret item is submitted for both the child and the alleged father.

There are many types of articles / items which may be submitted for DNA testing and profiling, however, the lab can never guarantee whether or not the article / item submitted will have sufficient DNA to create a profile and must do an initial scan.  If you ask, most labs will do what is known as a preliminary scan of the article and inform you whether or not they found enough DNA to create a profile before moving to comparison with the control sample.  It is always better to let the lab know at the time of submitting the case whether you want to be informed about the “article / item” profile before they move on to comparing with the control sample.  If sufficient DNA is not found on the article / item submitted, then there is no need to proceed on to comparison with a control sample.  Also, you can save a few dollars by doing it this way, however, time is lost, i.e. if you need to have results back speedily then the lab will have to wait until you contact them in order to give them permission to proceed to the second stage: comparison of the two profiles.  You decide which is best for your situation, and how you wish to proceed or not proceed.

To find out what articles / items can be submitted for testing, simply call the lab.  They will provide you with a full listing of what articles / items may be submitted for DNA testing as well as let you know what the cost of the initial scan of a submitted article / item would be.

Did you know that DNA testing can solve the mystery of a person’s parentage as well as tell the maternal lineage and the paternal lineage? A few years ago, scientists solved the mystery of King Tut’s parentage using a series of DNA tests.  DNA was taken from several different mummies including Tutankhamen; only three of the mummies were known for certain.  DNA samples were taken from five of the royal mummies dating back to the 1550-1479 B.C. Yes, before Christ!  Through a series of reconstructive DNA testing we now know who King Tut’s maternal lineage, as well as his paternal lineage, and is now able to identify Tiye, mother of the Pharoh Akhenaten and grandmother of King Tut.  It is amazing that after thousands of years, DNA could be taken from deceased, embalmed, mummies that were thousands of years old and used to establish biological relationships as was the case of King Tut.

If DNA can be taken from samples thousands of years old, think what it can do in cases where a person is alive or recently deceased.  Even when you think your situation is hopeless, it might very well not be there’s always Forensic DNA Testing.  DNA samples are quite often saved in the form of blood cards, forensic tissue, etc., by many medical examiners.  A simple request made by a deceased’s next of kin to the medical examiner’s office will get forensic samples from their loved ones released to our labs; and with the collection of a controlled sample (the child, other relative, another deceased, etc.) used to establish the biological relationship.  Results from these testing may be used for many different purposes such as Social Security benefits, child support, immigration, etc., among other reasons. 

Establishing  paternity, maternity, or some other biological relationship has become quite commonplace.  A simple telephone call to make the request and schedule an appointment, and a few days later and you will have your questions answered conclusively.  Our labs test twice for accuracy; and can tell decisively whether an alleged father is included usually to the degree of 99.99% or excluded 100%.  So, don’t worry, get tested!