Highly reliable tests can establish paternity using blood or tissue samples from the father (or putative father), mother, and kid. These exams have a substantial legal influence when determining child custody and maintenance. Each man could be required to submit to a DNA test to establish paternity if the father could be any one of numerous men. Paternity blood testing and DNA paternity tests are only two techniques to determine whether a claimed father is the minor child’s natural and legal father.
Paternity Tests with Blood
By comparing the blood types of the parties being tested, paternity tests were initially conducted in the middle of the 20th century. This required the separation of blood serum from antigen-challenged people who lacked specific red blood cell antigens. These antigens live in the membrane of the red blood cell and are protein molecules that may bind with sugar molecules. In those with that specific red blood cell antigen, these sera trigger coagulation of red blood cells.
A woman with Type B blood and a father with Type O blood can’t have a kid with Type AB blood. The A antigen gene must belong to the child’s biological father. White blood cell antigens, or Human Leukocyte Antigens (HLA), were employed to create a more practical test in the 1970s, which allowed for the exclusion of around 95% of erroneously accused fathers. For the test, several milliliters of blood are needed.
Blood types can be used to assess the biological likelihood of fatherhood, but they cannot be used to identify the father independently.
DNA Tests for Paternity
Each person has a distinct DNA, barring identical multiple births. Any features the mother cannot account for must have come from the father.
The most precise type of paternity testing available is DNA testing. The chance of paternity is 99.9% if the DNA patterns of the mother, child, and purported father match on every DNA assay.
Blood or a cheek swab sample can be used for a DNA test. Using Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism (RFLP), a blood test may match the father’s DNA to the child’s. A cheek swab employs a buccal smear to collect cheek cells for DNA testing.
A DNA sample is provided for examination by these assays. Any age can be used to test children. Even a birth specimen of umbilical cord blood can be used for paternity DNA testing.
Using Blood Types as a Low-Cost Paternity Test Method
Blood type comparisons were used in the initial paternity tests. However, this approach is unable to offer trustworthy paternity proof. But occasionally, it might rule out the prospect of becoming a parent.
Additionally, medical records may already have information on each testing participant’s blood type. Your expenditures will then be equal to nothing.
A man’s blood type can be determined by looking at his dog tags if he has ever worked in military service. This procedure could be less expensive than conducting a DNA paternity test, even if you don’t have this information for everyone.
So, before you pay for the costs of carrying out a DNA paternity test, you must determine the missing blood types.
ABO Blood Types
The four most prevalent varieties are A, B, AB, and O.
The following table can reduce the list of potential blood types for the alleged father if you already know the blood types of the mother and kid.
Find the mother’s value in blue and the value of the kid in yellow. The potential ABO groups of the supposed father are indicated by the letters in that cell.
Note: Ignoring the father, the two blank cells indicate impossibly possible pairings for the mother and the kid.
Important Restrictions
The graphic indicates that specific mother-child pairings display all four potential fathers and cannot rule out any likely fathers.
The most significant drawback is that, at most, the purported father can only be eliminated when this information is known. It is insufficient to establish a man’s paternity on its own.
However, if the mother is aware that there are only two potential dads, ruling out one of they will reveal which one is the child’s biological father.
You must still acquire a DNA paternity test if this doesn’t output a straight consequence or if you need a positive paternity test to conform to legal cause.
However, DNA testing is incredibly accurate. Half of the mother’s and half of the father’s DNA will be equally distributed in the kid. As a result, receiving a match on a DNA test proves that the man is the father, and not receiving a game eliminates him.
It’s critical for each parent to be aware of their rights since unmarried couples may still have concerns about custody arrangements, child support responsibilities, and other issues even after a paternity test has been performed.
