Fathers demand mandatory paternity testing
The Australian, Patricia Karvelas, February 16, 2011
A men's rights group has called for mandatory paternity testing of all babies after government figures revealed almost 600 instances of men compelled to financially support children they did not father.
Since changes to child support laws four years ago, there had been 586 cases of men successfully using DNA testing to show they were not biologically related to children they had been financially supporting, the federal government has revealed to The Australian.
In the overwhelming majority of these cases, the courts have not forced mothers to pay back the money they have received.
Of the 586 cases, only 74 mothers have been told to pay back the money. Those reparations total in excess of $533,000.
The figures, from the government's Child Support Agency, prompted Men's Rights Agency director Sue Price to call for mandatory DNA testing at birth.
"Quite a lot of them (the men) don't get their money back," she said. "The mothers aren't working anyway, so there's no way of getting the money back."
The figures are likely to renew a fierce debate over the use of DNA to determine biological parentage after birth.
Sole Parents Union president Kathleen Swinbourne told The Australian that the 2007 law change that led to the explosion in DNA testing was hurting children who were being told their fathers did not want to continue playing the role of parent. She urged uncertain fathers to seek testing during the pregnancy.
"We think there is Read More .. to being a father than DNA," she said. "If men are asking for these tests right at the beginning when someone says they are pregnant, that's fine, but if you are doing this when they are already calling you daddy, what effect does that have on the child?
"If you have accepted that you are their father, should you be allowed to turn around and change your mind based on biology?"
She suggested men make inquiries early to ensure children do not become traumatised by the DNA checking process.
"If you're in doubt, check it early," she said. "Take it out on your ex, don't take it out on your children."
Ms Price said she believed that up to 30 per cent of men who had a test found they were not the father.
"I think there should be mandatory testing at birth of every child to stop this happening," she said.
"People have affairs -- that happens -- but it's your obligation to find out who the father is."
A spokesman for Human Services Minister Tanya Plibersek said it was important that the children of separated parents were supported, both financially and emotionally.
"The Family Court adjudicates in disputes over who the actual parents are," he said.
"The Child Support Agency simply facilitates payments in the minority of cases where parents can't come to private arrangements."
Scotland's National Newspaper
96% of women are liars, honest
5,000 women polled
Half the women said that if they became pregnant by another man but wanted to stay with their partner, they would lie about the baby's real father.
Forty-two per cent would lie about contraception in order to get pregnant, no matter the wishes of their partner.
South Korean Husband Wins Paternity Fraud Lawsuit
Associated Press, USA
June 1, 2004
South Korean husband successfully sues wife for Paternity Fraud and gets marriage annulled. Wins $42,380 in compensation
DNA test confirms fraud, annulment granted: judge
The Visayan Daily Star, Bacolod City, Philippines, BY CARLA GOMEZ, February 28, 2009
Bacolod Regional Trial Court Judge Ray Alan Drilon has annulled the marriage of a Negrense couple after a DNA test showed that the child borne by the wife was not the biological offspring of the husband who works abroad.
The family court judge ruled that the marriage of the couple, whose names are being withheld by the DAILY STAR on the request of the court, was null and void.
Due to fraud committed by the wife in getting her overseas worker husband to marry her, properties acquired during their marriage are awarded in favor of the husband, the judge said in his decision, a copy of which was furnished the DAILY STAR yesterday.
The judge also declared that since the overseas worker is not the biological, much less the legitimate father of the child of the woman, the Civil Registrar is ordered to change the surname of the child to the mother's maiden name and remove the name of the plaintiff as father of the child.
The complainant said he was working as an electronics engineer in the United Arab Emirates and on his return to the Philippines in 2001, his girlfriend of 10 years with whom he had sex, showed him a pregnancy test result showing that she was pregnant.
On receiving the news he was overjoyed and offered to marry her. Shortly after he went to Saudi Arabia to work, and his wife gave birth to a baby girl in the same year.
The birth of the child only five months after their marriage puzzled him but his wife told him that the baby was born prematurely, so he believed her, the husband said. Read More ..
Adulterous woman ordered to pay husband £177,000 in 'moral damages'
The Daily Mail, UK
18th February 2009
An adulterous Spanish woman who conceived three children with her lover has been ordered to pay £177,000 in 'moral damages' to her husband.
The cuckolded man had believed that the three children were his until a DNA test eventually proved they were fathered by another man.
The husband, who along with the other man cannot be named for legal reasons to protect the children's identities, suspected his second wife may have been unfaithful in 2001.
Infidelity 'is natural'
BBC, U.K., September 25, 1998
Females 'stray to gather the best possible genes for their offspring'
Infidelity may be natural according to studies that show nine out of 10 mammals and birds that mate for life are unfaithful.
Experts found animals that fool around are only following the urges of biology.
New studies using genetic testing techniques show that even the most apparently devoted of partners often go in search of the sexual company of strangers.
Females stray to gather the best possible genes for their offspring, while males are driven to father as many and as often as possible.
"True monogamy actually is rare," said Stephen T Emlen, an expert on evolutionary behaviour at Cornell University.
Paternity fraud: Is it or should it be a criminal offence under the Criminal Code of Canada?
You be the judge.
New Brunswick woman ruled responsible in burning of baby's body
ST. STEPHEN, N.B. - A New Brunswick judge says a woman who burned and dismembered her newborn son is criminally responsible for her actions.
Becky Sue Morrow earlier pleaded guilty to offering an indignity to a dead body and disposing of a newborn with the intent of concealing a delivery.
Judge David Walker ruled Friday that the 27-year-old woman may have been suffering from a mental disorder when she delivered the baby but that that was not the case when the baby's body was burned and its remains hidden.
It is not known if the baby was alive at the time of birth.
At a hearing last month, the court heard contrasting reports from the two psychiatrists. One said Ms. Morrow was in a "disassociated" mental state when the crime occurred. The other said she clearly planned her actions and understood the consequences.
CanadianCRC editor's commentary:
In Canada, all newborn children are tested, at government expense, for 30+ medical conditions right after birth. The Canadian CRC advocates that mandatory DNA paternity testing be done. Doing so means that mother will know that they will be found out and children will be protected from paternity fraud. Children will be saved from the damage of learning that the man purported to be their father is, actually isn't their father. See the full reasons why mandatory paternity testing would benefit children.