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Could be that dad is not real father, report shows (Is that kid really yours?)
reuters via Yahoo News ^
| Aug 11, 2005
| SOURCE: Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, August 2005.
Posted on 08/11/2005 12:40:55 PM PDT by summer
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Perhaps one out of every 25 dads could unknowingly be raising another man's child, a finding that has huge health and social implications, according to report released Wednesday.
Exposing so-called paternal discrepancy -- when a child is identified as being biologically fathered by someone other than the man who believes he is the father -- could lead to family violence and the breakup of many families. On the other hand, leaving paternal discrepancy hidden means having the wrong genetic information, which could have health consequences.
A UK-based research team reviewed scientific research dealing with paternity published between 1950 and 2004 and reports that rates of paternal discrepancy range from less than 1 percent to as much as 30 percent.
The investigation also showed that becoming pregnant at a younger age, low socioeconomic status, and being in a long-term relationship rather than being married seem to be linked to greater likelihood of paternal discrepancy.
It is generally believed that rates of paternal discrepancy are less than 10 percent. A paternal discrepancy rate of 4 percent means that one in 25 families could be affected.
However, soaring rates of paternity testing in North America and Europe means more cases of paternal discrepancy will be identified in the years ahead, Professor Mark A. Bellis, from the Center for Public Health at the Liverpool John Moores University, and colleagues point out in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.
In the United States, for example, rates of paternity testing more than doubled between 1991 and 2001. The increasing use of genetic testing for diagnosis and treatment of disease as well as in judicial procedures will also yield more opportunities to uncover cases where a father, unbeknownst to him, is not the biological parent.
"Modern genetic techniques continue to open a Pandora's box on hitherto hidden aspects of human sexual behavior," the investigators write.
Exposing such situations will inevitably affect not only deceived dads but also their family and potentially the biological father. Leaving paternal discrepancy undiagnosed, on the other hand, leaves those affected with incorrect genetic information that could prove harmful.
What's urgently needed, the authors say, is guidance on how and when paternal discrepancy should be exposed.
At present, most cases that are inadvertently identified are ignored by whoever uncovers the situation.
"However, in a society where services and life decisions are increasingly influenced by genetics, our approach to paternal discrepancy cannot be simply to ignore this difficult issue but must be informed by what best protects the health of those affected," Bellis and colleagues argue.
TOPICS: News/Current Events; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: dads; families; genes; kids; oops; paternity
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To: Junior
Nothing good, that's for sure.
181
posted on
08/30/2005 11:52:54 AM PDT
by
cjshapi
To: OldSgt.
OK, but then was this fair? Heavy story. The unfairness really came in the actions of two reprehensible people and indulgent court system.
If this is a true story, how'd it all work out?
182
posted on
08/30/2005 12:17:40 PM PDT
by
tallhappy
(Juntos Podemos!)
To: Fishrrman
To: tallhappy
Tallhappy
I wish I could say I made it up, but I lived it. To add insult to the injury,with the facts in the court records both testimony and in depositions, the court would not overturn the ruling requiring me to pay child support sighting " that the court could not be a party to the Fraud". The Appeals Court, instead of ruling on the jurisprudence of the lower court, ruled that the Court could not be made a party to the "Fraud".
In 1979, the Superior Court of that state agreed to hear the petition. But as things some time happen, two weeks before it was docketed to be heard, there was another case upon which the court ruled so broadly so as to set new legal precedence and in effect took my legal standing before the court away. So at that point there was nothing left for me to do.
I will say it did affect my life, didn't remarry for 20 years. Life happens, the good and the bad.
184
posted on
08/30/2005 1:11:53 PM PDT
by
OldSgt.
(USMC, Nam Vet, HMM-165)
To: summer
He is still on the hook for child support....
To: summer
Modern genetic techniques continue to open a Pandora's box on hitherto hidden aspects of humanFemale sexual behavior," the investigators write
To: OldSgt.
I really don't care about you How did it work out means how is your daughter? She'd be grown by now What happened?
187
posted on
08/30/2005 10:19:19 PM PDT
by
tallhappy
(Juntos Podemos!)
To: tallhappy
"don't care about you How did it work out means how is your daughter? "
For one, the child wasn't a girl and I've no idea about the boy.
Back then, my aunt was given custody due to the Mother and biological father of the child giving cocaine to the infant on two occasions after he'd moved in. Her friends came into court as witnesses.
The Marine Corps sent me back to finish my tour, Months later the mother went into court and said she'd reformed, The Corps rushed me back to the world and the judge gave her back the child with the stipulation that she was to take a piss test once a month, But so it wouldn't be an inconvenience to the Court, she was to schedule her own test.
That morning at my Aunt's was the last time I saw the boy.
He was now with his mother and real father.
They married and had at least one more child is about all I know and that I heard years later, second hand. For good or ill, I felt the best thing was to leave it alone.
He would be 30 something now ( ya, I know the exact age), and I do hope the best for him, but not his mother or father. And I see no good purpose in contacting him or my knowing more.
188
posted on
08/31/2005 5:46:23 AM PDT
by
OldSgt.
(USMC, Nam Vet, HMM-165)
To: OldSgt.
Yeah sorry I thought the child was a girl
So you paid support but don't know how he turned out? When did you lose track?
I'd agree now that there's no purpose in contacting him
Do you think of yourself more as a Christian or more as an atheist?
189
posted on
08/31/2005 7:36:40 AM PDT
by
tallhappy
(Juntos Podemos!)
To: tallhappy
As a Christian, and yes I know the statement," but not his mother or father." doesn't sound like one. but that was about wishing them well. But I don't wish them ill now either. Fact is, I don't think about them in the present tense at all. That was then, this is now. Took the first 20 years to get by it though.
"So you paid support but don't know how he turned out? When did you lose track? "
When the facts were made clear that I was not the child's father and that the other man was(a fact), and that the Court had taken my ability two protect the child away and given the child back into the hands of the biological parents, there was then nothing for me to do but send the moneys into the system that demanded by law I do, under penalty if not.
Would it have been right of me to use the Court ordered Child support( one wrong) as a way to affect my way into other peoples lives and family( a second wrong). I didn't think so, so that day at my Aunt's ( the Child) and that day in court (the mother)was the last contact I had at all. In the first few years after, my little sister who knew friends that knew her brother, tried to tell me things, but I always told her I didn't want to know, that my place was to walk away from what was not mine. It was hard, I had changed that child's first dirty diaper. Sometimes in life a person has to do things that hurt the heart, but have to none the less.
190
posted on
08/31/2005 8:47:19 AM PDT
by
OldSgt.
(USMC, Nam Vet, HMM-165)
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