What is the best way to get a paternity test done privately.?

Question

How can a father have a paternity test done with out the mother or the 8 year old child knowing?
Perhaps acquire a sample from the child without telling the child what it is for - without having to go to a clinic? Is there a reliable method of testing that can be accomplished this way?
Any ideas would be very helpful - thank you!

Answer 1

If you search Google, you will find several places doing DNA testing via the mail. For example, I picked dnasi.com at random.

They charge about $320 for a kit that will test a father and up to 2 children. If the mother is not involved, they can still test. Unless the real father's your identical twin, they can give you a good answer (99.99% or better) whether the person is the father or not.

All it requires is a mouth cotton swab which is provided with the test. I can imagine a number of scenarios where the kid won't know what happened... "Here, son, let daddy hold your mouth open with this and check your teeth; maybe we need to have you visit the dentist. Say AAAAHHH." The kid would never know the purpose was to brush inside his mouth with the cotton swab, not check his teeth, so he can't tell mommy.

I guess the question is, what do you expect? Is he going to find it's NOT his? then what? I would think by about 8 you should be able to tell who's the daddy by appearance, unless the real father in nowhere to be compared against, and looked pretty close to the fake daddy.

Also - if you've been married for 9 years and suddenly found junior isn't yours; what? Tell junior to get lost, file for divorce? Best case, already divorced "dad" gets the divorce court to re-open the support payment issue.

There's also the "loco parentis" issue. In Canada (maybe not in the USA) courts have held that step-parents and men who act like parents for any length of time are in fact parents, even if not biologically. They can't just walk away from child support because they broke up with the mother.

Answer 2

The mother would be better to contact a lawyer that deals with paternity and take it from there. If the 'father' has access to the child then he could easily have a dna test carried out, you can buy them easily on the internet and you take the swab at home before sending it back for testing. However I wouldnt suggest doing it this way as there are some companies out there that may be a con.

Answer 3

He can take something to the the clinic where the test is administered that has DNA from the child on it (ie a toothbrush, a hair brush, a swab with saliva on it).
There are tons of ways.