A family court is requiring a man to take a DNA test in a paternity case, but this isn’t your ordinary case. The mother and the alleged father both know he’s not the biological father.
According to theage.com.au, the man in question signed a voluntary acknowledgment of paternity in order to gain access to the U.S. by following immigration guidelines. The man divorced the mother in 2006 after 4 years of marriage. Now he wants nothing to do with the child.
It seems Australian family law and U.S. family law vary in the way they look at the child’s best interest. According to the article, Australian law seeks to find the child’s true biological parents, whereas the U.S. seeks to find emotional and financial support for the child, regardless of biological relationship.
The court has ordered the DNA test, which seems to be a waste of time in this matter. We assume the results will come back negative. Should the guy be required to continue child support, which he has been paying since 2007, even if he’s not the biological father?
Let me know your thoughts.
A neglect case at the Disctrict and Juvenile Court in Accra, Ghana took an odd turn when a court ordered DNA test showed neither the man or woman was biologically related to the 6 month old child in question.
Judge Cynthia Wiredu ordered a DNA test after the man claimed that the woman faked a pregnancy as part of a blackmail scheme. Judging by the article i found on peacefmonline.com, Celestine Owusu, the claimed mother, may have some issues. Ahe was arrested following the DNA test results.
Ms. Owusu denied the DNA test results, saying that they must not be accurate. As someone who has worked in DNA testing for four years, I’ve never seen a case like this, so I am inclined to believe her. Here are a couple ways the DNA test results could go wrong.
- The DNA collection facility may have switched the DNA samples, leading to a false negative.
- The facility may have mis-labeled the samples, noting the child as the father and vice-versa.
- The DNA laboratory may have switched the samples. Although rare, DNA sample switching in laboratories has happened.
Ms. Owusu is using her own money to pay for a retest. Hopefully she uses a reputable laboratory for this test. I will be anxiously awaiting the results.
