How do do-it-yourself paternity tests work?

2 Comments

1. S R says:

   November 11, 2009 at 2:11 am

   They do send you a kit with pretty simple instructions. You get a swab for the child and a swab for the alleged father. You rub them on the inside of the cheek and put them in a tube. You fill out a form, label the tubes and drop them in the mail. You get the results back in the mail. There is no need to test the mother because there is rarely any doubt she is the mother.
   The part about making sure nothing happens to it… well the do it yourself kits do not have what is known as a "chain of custody" process so the results will not hold up in court. The only exception is that the results may be acceptable as evidence of a reasonable suspicion to have a judge order official DNA testing to disestablish paternity. If the do it yourself test results come back as a match then there is probably very little chance anything happened to the samples along the way. There is always a possibility something went amiss if the results come back excluding the father but there really wouldn’t be any way to tell without another test. The reliability and security of the testing has always been good from what I have seen but I suppose it is possible for a mix up.
   If you want results that stand up in court you will need to get the test done by someone else and you will have to make sure you get what is called a "chain of custody" test. These are usually a little more expensive.
2. Magick says:

   November 11, 2009 at 2:11 am

   Those test are not good in court. Court ordered test use samples from mother, father and child. Those take home test are just another way of separating you from your money.