Parentage, especially paternity

Found a young girl, who suited him nice
Went to his papa to ask his advice
His papa said son, I have to say no
That girl is your sister but your mama don't know
Wohohoho, it's real, shame and scandal in the family...

Went to his mama, and thought what he said
And told his mama, what his papa had said
His mama she laughed she says, go man go
Your daddy ain't your daddy, but your daddy don't know...

("Shame and Scandal", traditional, lead vocals - Peter Tosh, 1965 produced by - Coxone Dodd)

At the moment this page is an index into other pages on this web site concerned with paternity and paternity tests. (It may be expanded in future into a general discussion about parentage).

Paternity tests for child support

Child support responsibility lies with the biological parents, except for itemised cases including gamete donation, surrogacy, adoption, and those declared to be parents by a court. Although parentage can be "presumed" in certain cases (such as marriage), that is simply to avoid delay in the flow of money. It does not replace the above rule about biological parents. If a man later uses the courts to demonstrate that he does not satisfy the conditions in "1" above, for example he is not the biological father, the CSA will refund payments made to date (at taxpayers' expense).

This means that official paternity tests are used both by the CSA and by courts to determine whether or not a particular man is the biological father. The official procedure is summarised on this web site at:

Presuming and establishing paternity

Paternity tests for personal knowledge or "peace of mind"

In addition to the above official paternity tests, paternity tests can easily be requested for personal knowledge. They need samples from the man and the child, but not the mother. Such paternity testing services are freely available over the Internet. A description of such tests, and a quick identification of over 70 organisations in about 10 countries offering these services, are provided here:

Paternity tests for peace of mind
Some links to paternity testing services

One of the items on the Agenda for the 21st Century is the need for clarity about paternity in relationships. Current doubts and restrictions must be removed. This Agenda item is described here, and the topic is expanded at length in the papers identified below:

Partners should know about paternity

Papers

A paper that makes the case for "personal knowledge paternity tests" (also known as "peace of mind" paternity tests):

"The truth is out there" - Commentary on "Move to outlaw secret DNA testing by fathers"

A paper that proposes that, by 2020, we "solve" the problem of paternity surprises by systematic effort by government and society:

"Knowledge is bliss" - Towards a society without paternity surprises

A paper that discusses how unofficial paternity tests could be criminalised if that were the government's intention:

What is the crime if men seek confirmation that children are theirs?

A paper that discusses unofficial paternity tests from the point of view of children's outcomes, privacies, and rights:

"A matter of opinion" - Unofficial paternity tests and the impacts on children

Islam and paternity tests

Islam is not "simply" a religion. It is a culture, with the societal and political implications of a culture. It has therefore considered and reported upon matters such as child support and paternity testing. Islamic Divine Law, Shari'ah law, places more emphasis on (male) witnesses than on DNA tests. See:

Paternity testing and Islam

Early material

The following pages were written for the first issue of this web site. They are factually correct, but largely superceded by the papers identified above, and in fact were the basis for those papers. These pages contain material that does not yet exist elsewhere. Once another home has been found for that material, these pages may be removed.

Wives & female partners who "conceive away"
Child Support & Paternity Establishment & the Genome Project