DNA Testing is not the mystery it was only a few years ago. After all, it makes regular appearances in the crime novels we read, the CSI shows on TV and in courtroom dramas on the big screen. Most people understand that DNA (also known as our chromosomal fingerprint) can be found in trace evidence from crime scenes and is used to identify criminals. Legal DNA Testing, done through an accredited DNA Testing facility, is court admissible evidence and considered one of our best ways of pinpointing identity through evidence left behind such as blood, hair, saliva or bodily fluids. In order to understand how DNA Testing works, it is essential to understand DNA itself. DNA consists of a ladder-like structure of chromosomes that a father and a mother contribute to a child. At birth, that child has identifiable characteristics of both the mother and the father’s DNA within his/her own DNA structure. Historically, attributes such as eye color, hair color, blood type and facial features were the things that fathers used to be certain of parentage. And in fact, there is a test for eye color that can potentially eliminate a man as a child’s father. However, there is a much broader range of error in that test than accuracy. Even blood type can be tricky. So many people share the same blood type, it would be impossible to eliminate a woman’s husband who shared the same blood type as the child’s biological father. Today, DNA Testing is also used in a number of domestic cases, including when there is a dispute or a question concerning the true identity of a child’s father. Paternity DNA Testing can be done using only a DNA Testing sample from the presumed father and from the child in question. However, it is much more accurate if the mother’s DNA Testing sample is included in the test. There are also two kinds of tests-the less expensive home DNA Testing kits and the legal DNA Testing done through an accredited facility. Experts recommend where paternity is concerned, it pays to do the DNA Test legally, so that the results are court admissible. There are a myriad of reasons why it might be important to know the true identity of a child’s father, but it’s a complicated issue, fraught with emotional land mines. In most states, if a man and a woman have been married 300 days at the time the woman gives birth, her husband is legally considered to be the father of the child. However, that assumes that the wife has been entirely faithful to the marriage. In most cases, this is true, and the husband has no reason to assume differently. But suppose a question has come up about a child’s parentage. In the case of Dean Smith, 34, a Los Angeles carpenter, divorce was imminent. He and his wife had a daughter who was three-years-old, whom Dean had always assumed was his. But in the heat of an argument, his wife had implied that might not be the case. Suddenly, Dean was no longer sure she was his biological daughter. He considered getting a DNA Paternity Test. Now, there are a number of factors at work here: ·Dean has the right to know if he is the father of the child he has been raising and supporting. Legally, he is responsible for her. ·The child has the right to know if Dean is, in fact, her father. ·If Dean is her biological father, then he is legally bound to support the child until she turns 18. If he is not her biological father, he might have a case for discontinuing child support. ·The problem is, Dean loves the little girl, whether he is, in fact, her father or not. So, complicated issues of betrayal, legality and ethics arise around paternity and these should all be considered carefully before deciding to do a Paternity DNA test. In messy divorce cases, there are times when legal DNA testing evidence that eliminates a husband as the father can have serious financial ramifications for both the child and the father. Women also have a right to know paternity of their children. If a woman has had several partners and is not certain of paternity, a DNA paternity case can resolve this question. Not only does she, then, have the legal right to expect financial support from the biological father, but her child will have an accurate family history to trace as he/she gets older. It can also prove to an uncertain husband that he is, in fact, the father of her child. Gina, 18, had been adopted at birth. She loved her adoptive parents but was curious about her biological parents. Her search took her two years, but eventually, she found Tom, the man she believed was her father. Tom was married with a young family, and had no idea a child had been born of a relationship that ended years before his current one. He agreed to do a paternity DNA Test. They both gave saliva swipe samples to an accredited DNA Testing facility. The results took seven days to complete and cost nearly $500. It turned out Tom was, in fact, Gina’s biological father. With all doubt removed from the equation, Tom acknowledged Gina as his daughter and introduced her to his wife and Gina’s half-siblings. For Gina and her new family, the DNA Paternity Test was well worth the money.
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