PATERNITY TESTS TO PROTECT OUR SOLDIERS

PATERNITY TESTS TO PROTECT OUR SOLDIERS

In too many cases, fathers end up paying child support on other men's children and do not know it. Failing to comply with court mandated child support can result in a jail term, loss of wages, and social stigmas. In many cases, the mother’s of these children know that the men paying child support are not the biological fathers. There are several possible scenarios which may lead a mother to believe her only option is to commit paternity fraud. Perhaps the couple was not married, had a brief sexual relationship, and the mother needs someone to support the child; or the alleged father believes the children are his because they were born when he was in a relationship with the mother; that a wife had an affair that resulted in an illegitimate child, and she does not want the marriage to break; or even after a bitter breakup, a woman claims that the child is his because she is mad at him and wants to get even. Regardless of the situation, this is fraud.

When a woman makes this type of false claim to a court in a divorce or a child support action, she is committing perjury. Fortunately, with the advances and wide availability of scientific technology, it is easy, affordable, and worth the effort to get an accurate paternity test through DNA analysis. Not only is it fair to the alleged father to verify paternity, but also to the child. Parenting is both a financial and emotional obligation, and knowing the truth is in the best interest of all parties involved.

A group which is most vulnerable of such frauds is our military men who proudly and voluntarily serve our country. As America's servicemen are risking their lives to protect their families and our own, they may end up serving a jail term once they return to the United States for failing to financially support a child that is not their own. It does not seem fair that soldiers risking their lives in Iraq might face prison over child support upon return. Our soldiers have a modest salary at best, and often they are unable to pay the impossible financial burdens put upon them for child support. It is disheartening to know that servicemen who risk their lives to protect us will possibly face arrest as soon they step off their plane home. Yet this is precisely what happened after Desert Storm, and it is happening again.

The Christian Science Monitor reports that a soldier whose domestic job pays a $31,000 yearly gross salary must pay $900 a month in child support. His reserve pay will reduce his income to $27,000. The Monitor neglects to point out that even at the higher pay, this is about half the man's take-home pay, and that he is likely to be living on less than $1,000 a month. These complaints of the financial burdens have not gone completely unheard, but the response may not be enough. The federal government has issued a generic PR smokescreen, urging soldiers to contact their local child support agencies to request a modification, but such requests require a long, tedious, and broken process, and are seldom granted in enough time to avoid the consequences of not paying child support.

The DNA Identity Testing Center of Bio-Synthesis Inc., headquartered in Lewisville, Texas, is the global leader in DNA testing including, Paternity, Maternity, Siblingship, Avuncularity, Grandparentage, and Forensic Samples, in both Private and Legal Cases since 1995. Our staff of highly experienced and qualified DNA experts and Paternity Consultants has reliably and consistently provided products and services to customers across the country and the world that meet the most demanding requirements for quality, turnaround, and expert technical support. Visit us at www.800dnaexam.com

Former Presidential Candidate’s Paternity Case

January, 21, 2010- Former Democratic presidential candidate, John Edwards in the news today. This time, he finally admitted that he fathered a child during an affair before his second White House bid. Edwards dropped a long series of denials about the paternity of this child shortly before a book by a former campaign, is about to be released in a couple of months. Edwards released a statement admitting he is, Frances Quinn Hunter’s father, who was born in 2008. Frances, is the product of his affair with Reilly Hunter. Edwards had already confessed to the affair but had denied the paternity of the child.

Today, Edwards admitted that "It was wrong for me to ever deny she was my daughter". He added that “he was providing financial support for the child and mother”. In his book, Young is expected to describe how Edwards worked to hide his paternity with Young's help.

Young initially claimed he was the child's father shortly before the 2008 presidential primary contests began. Word that Young was naming Edwards as the father first came when details of his book proposal were reported by The New York Times in September. Edwards' lawyer at the time declined to comment.

Frances was born Feb. 27, 2008, indicating that she was conceived in the middle of 2007, several months after Hunter stopped working for Edwards. At the same time, John and Elizabeth Edwards renewed their wedding vows in July of 2007 as they celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary.

Hunter's lawyer, Michael Critchley, said Edwards statement amounted to a public acknowledgment of something that was already known privately. He added that Hunter did not have an immediate comment. It is not even clear where she and the child are living.

Strikingly, in an excerpt of an ABC News interview released Thursday, Young says that Edwards asked him to arrange a fake a paternity test, to "get a doctor to fake the DNA results". Besides, Young said that Edwards also asked him to steal a diaper from the baby so he could secretly do a DNA test to find out if this indeed his child."

Since admitting the affair in August 2008, Edwards has largely gone into seclusion. Both Young and Hunter have made appearances at a federal courthouse in Raleigh.

Edwards said in his statement, "I will do everything in my power to provide the child with the love and support she deserves”.

Edwards admitted that he has spent time with her during the past year. He also said that “he trusts that future efforts to show her the love and affection she deserves can be done privately and in peace." Edwards admitted that "it was wrong for me ever to deny she was my daughter and hopefully one day, when she understands, she will forgive me." He stated that he has been providing financial support for the child and have reached an agreement with her mother to continue providing support in the future". Edwards' attorney, Wade Smith, said Edwards wrestled with the decision to come forward but took so long to do it because there were other people involved. Smith stated that “ this is a complex family situation, and Edwards had to keep in mind that other people have concerns and worries about it".

A longtime friend of Edwards and political pollster, said that Edwards had to come to an agreement on child support before coming forward. He said that coming to an agreement on child support, was the last piece". Nobody knows exactly why Edwards denied that he was the child’s biological father. But he added that Edwards was "very pleased" to finally set the record straight. His friend added that “to say that life has been hard for John Edwards for the past year would be an enormous understatement but he recognizes that he has been at fault." Edwards adamantly denied during an interview with ABC News last summer that he had fathered a child with Hunter, and that he would welcomed a paternity test. At that time, Edwards reported that his affair with Hunter had ended in 2006.

The DNA Identity Testing Center of Bio-Synthesis Inc., headquartered in Lewisville, Texas, is the global leader in DNA testing including, Paternity, Maternity, Siblingship, Avuncularity, Grandparentage, and Forensic Samples, in both Private and Legal Cases since 1995. Our staff of highly experienced and qualified DNA experts and Paternity Consultants has reliably and consistently provided products and services to customers across the country and the world that meet the most demanding requirements for quality, turnaround, and expert technical support. Visit us at www.800dnaexam.com

Puerto Rico: Civil Code allows more time to Challenge Paternity

Taking into consideration the scientific advances in the field of genetics as well as social changes, a proposal was submitted, in Puerto Rico, to update the law which regulates the challenge of paternity.

The active Civil Code was amended from the original law, approved in 1930. This law was adopted then from part of The Civil Code of Spain which was based on the social and scientific conditions of the time. Since 1930, Puerto Rico has undergone huge social transformations along with the great scientific advances in the field of genetics.

Filiation, in the legal system, establishes the paternal and maternal relationship of all children to their parents. This relationship generates a series of rights and responsibilities. Filiation, is the act through which a father, mother or both, acknowledge that a child is their son or daughter.The advances in genetic sciences which have provided the DNA technology as a tool to establish paternity results in a conclusive way. Considering the powerful genetic technology, The Legislature of Puerto Rico, has recognized the importance of these genetic tests in judicial cases of paternity to challenge paternity.

Presently, The Civil Code, establishes that challenging paternity of an alleged child has to be done within three months after registering a child, and six months if the alleged father does not live in Puerto Rico.

DNA Testing



However, because these terms are so short, they usually elapse before the alleged father can verify his paternity. Not only the alleged father has the right to challenge paternity but also the biological father. In addition, the mother can exercise that right in both cases, when the natural father is needed to recognizes paternity of a child but also when maternity is in question (as in cases of accidental exchanges of babies at hospital) and abductions.

Both paternity and maternity are familial relationships which entail great financial and emotional responsibilities towards a child. This parental responsibility cannot be imposed to an individual just because at one point, the individual agreed. It is very important to look after a child’s best interest, but this should not be done at the expense of neglecting basic principles of justice and truth. In the same way that love cannot be faked, neither can paternity.

The DNA Identity Testing Center of Bio-Synthesis Inc., headquartered in Lewisville, Texas, is a global leader in DNA testing including, Paternity, Maternity, Siblingship, Grandparentage, and Forensic Samples, in both Private and Legal Cases since 1995. Our staff of highly experienced and qualified DNA experts and Paternity Consultants has reliably and consistently provided products and services to customers across the country and the world that meet the most demanding requirements for quality, turnaround, and expert technical support. For more information please call 972-420-8505.

Gift your child genetic identity

According to Dr Jeanette Papp, director of genotyping and sequencing in the University of California at Los Angeles of human genetics, 15% of children born in the Western world are victims of paternity fraud. Statistics from the United States, Australia and other countries show that approximately 30% of all paternity tests rule out the presumed father as the biological father. Paternity fraud is the act of falsely naming a man to be the biological father of a child particularly for the purpose of collecting child support or child maintenance by the mother when she knows or suspects that he is not the biological father. In cases of paternity fraud the defrauded man, the child who is deprived of the relationship with his/her biological father and the biological father who is deprived of the relationship with his child.

These numbers are based on tests performed in cases in which the alleged fathers suspected they were not the biological fathers of the subject child and does not provide a total picture of such incidences in the general population. Currently more than 300,000 such tests are done each year. Since it is unlikely that these paternity tests were done without an underlying reason, almost certainly involving payment of child support, there are thus over 90,000 men who have been falsely accused of paternity each year. With around 4 million children now born each year in the United States, 1.2 million men are likely victims of paternity fraud each year. Thus it can be presumed that by far the great majority of these deceived men are enslaved by the courts and the mother's lies to support these children until at least age 18. Therefore, as many as 21 million men are indentured today, either by marriage or the courts to pay much of their income for children they have no biological ties to.

Steve Scherer, a senior scientist in the department of genetics at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto is of the opinion that 10% of babies born in Canada are victims of paternity fraud. A science seminar held in November 2002 for Canadian judges in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada also cited a 10% paternity fraud as per a panel of medical experts. The Canadian Children’s Rights Council states a paternity fraud rate of 15%. According to a study by Dr Judith Eve Lipton, a psychiatrist with the Swedish Medical Center in Washington D.C., between 30 and 50 per cent of women cheat on their partners, compared with 50 to 80 per cent of men. Other statistics place this number at approximately 60% for both the sexes. A self-reporting national poll of 5000 women conducted in Scotland in 2004 reported that 50 per cent of 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.

The 7th, 8th and 9th articles in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) (1989) states that a child should have the right to be raised by both biological parents, to be identified properly at birth, and require that the government birth registry contain an accurate record of the identity information of both biological and social parents.

Proper identification of a child is necessary as it would provide information about the genetic and other medical diseases for the lifetime of that person.

With the advancement of DNA testing techniques, authentic identification of a child’s parents has become more feasible too. Thus at the time of registering for birth of the child a DNA profiling may be stressed upon.

DNA-PROKIDS program to help eliminate international human trafficking

New estimates indicate that human trafficking will be the number one crime in the world by 2010. Currently, approximately 600,000 to 800,000 people are trafficked across international borders, about 50 percent of which are under the age of 17.

Scientists at the University of North Texas Health Science Center (UNTHSC) have recently received a $500,000 grant from The Life Technologies Foundation for use in development of the DNA-PROKIDS Project (Program for Kids Identification with DNA Systems). This program will be designed to deter international human trafficking through the use of DNA testing, which will help to reunite abducted and homeless children with their biological parents/families.

Through PROKIDS, children who are located and found to be associated with any human trafficking activity, i.e. illegal adoptions, living on the street, prostitution, will be DNA sampled. These childrens' DNA profiles will be entered into an international, searchable DNA database, where they can potentially be matched to parents/family members of missing children who have previously submitted their DNA to the program.

UNTHSC is working in collaboration with the University of Granada-Spain to build the needed international DNA database.

About DNAExam

The DNA Identity Testing Center of Bio-Synthesis Inc., headquartered in Lewisville, Texas, is the global leader in DNA testing including, Paternity, Maternity, Siblingship, Avuncularity, Grandparentage, and Forensic Samples, in both Private and Legal Cases since 1995. Our staff of highly experienced and qualified DNA experts and Paternity Consultants has reliably and consistently provided products and services to customers across the country and the world that meet the most demanding requirements for quality, turnaround, and expert technical support.

For more information, please visit 800dnaexam.com or call 1-800-227-0627

New DNA testing program to aid in elimination of human trafficking

As human trafficking is becoming an increasingly more serious issue worldwide, scientists are now developing a program specifically aimed at eliminating this illegal activity and reuniting abducted and lost children with their families. Scientists at the University of North Texas Health Science Center, in conjuction with the University of Granada-Spain, are developing a program called DNA-PROKIDS, which will incorporate an international DNA database of DNA profiles of children who are found to be involved in human trafficking activities. The database will also include DNA profiles of parents and family members of abducted or lost children and will be searchable to match missing children to their families. Recently, a $500,000 grant by The Life Technologies Foundation was awarded to UNTHSC to fund and develop the DNA-PROKIDS Project.

DNA testing may help identify WWI soldiers

After nearly a century, families of WWI veterans slain in northern France may have new hope for identifying their loved ones' remains. The British Ministry of Defense has authorized excavation of burial pits in Fromelles, conducted by the Oxford Archaeology team, which is expected to unveil remains from thousands of British and Australian soldiers, dating back to 1916.

An initial cross-section of remains were submitted for DNA testing to determine the quality and quantity of DNA that may be able to be obtained. Results, so far, have been very promising. Mostly tooth and bone samples have been found and used for extracting DNA. Although most remains are in very delicate condition, viable DNA has been obtained and is hoped to lead to positive identification of the slain soldiers. Now, following this successful first run, the Ministry of Defense is planning a full excavation of Fromelles, with the goal of identifying nearly all remains through DNA testing, and providing the soldiers proper and honorable burials.

About DNAExam
The DNA Identity Testing Center of Bio-Synthesis Inc., headquartered in Lewisville, Texas, is the global leader in DNA testing including, Paternity, Maternity, Siblingship, Avuncularity, Grandparentage, and Forensic Samples, in both Private and Legal Cases since 1995. Our staff of highly experienced and qualified DNA experts and Paternity Consultants has reliably and consistently provided products and services to customers across the country and the world that meet the most demanding requirements for quality, turnaround, and expert technical support.

For more information, please visit 800dnaexam.com or call 1-800-227-0627