The false claim that "paternity fraud is an urban myth"

	posted by Matt on 09:13 AM July 6th, 2005
	Barry Pearson writes "Recently, there have been some newspaper headlines claiming 'Paternity fraud is an urban myth'. They claim to be based on some research in Australia. In fact, they totally distort the research, which came to no such conclusion. My description of the media errors is found here and here."

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Thanks (Score:0) by Anonymous User on 03:45 PM July 6th, 2005 EST (#1) Thanks for your post with all the informative links provided. You've obviously done a lot of research on this. Lorianne

Re:Thanks (Score:0) by Anonymous User on 07:24 PM July 6th, 2005 EST (#2) I agree. Very glad someone is challenging this. In case anyone doubts the 30% figure, here is another official document from the American Association of Blood Banks showing that out of about 300,000 DNA tests in one year reported by accredited DNA labs, about 30% were negative. http://www.ncfmla.org/pdf/na-fraud.pdf It's true that this is not a figure from a randomized (or, "community") sample. Instead, it reflects a percentage within the population of men who get DNA paternity tests (not the general population). But it still tells us, in raw numbers, that 100,000 men at BARE MINIMUM are misidentified as the father of a child in the U.S. *every single year*; and the actual number is probably multiple times that, because this is only the men who get tested at accredited labs in a given year, which, although large (at least 300,000 per year), it is not large in comparison to the population of men in the U.S. So when we also consider all the men who do not get tested from accredited DNA labs, the 100,000 figure would multiply even if their percentage (of misidentifications) was as low as 1%. It follows that these bare minimum numbers add, up over time, to millions and millions of men misidentified as bio dads. That is enormous, and these people who try to downplay it are just full of it. Marc A.

Re:Thanks (Score:0) by Anonymous User on 06:09 AM July 8th, 2005 EST (#4) There are links to some more up to date AABB reports at the address below. The link to the 2000 report may be out of date, but the later ones appear to work. http://www.childsupportanalysis.co.uk/analysis_and _opinion/choices_and_behaviours/misattributed_pate rnity.htm

Link to comprehensive summary of various studies (Score:0) by Anonymous User on 08:16 PM July 6th, 2005 EST (#3) I've gained some expertise into paternity fraud through my position as the Reproductive Rights Chairman for the (U.S.) National Center for Men, which I've held for roughly a decade. Like professor Michael Gilding, I've undertaken an extensive review of available international research, and I agree that it's important to use reliable estimates of the incidence of paternity fraud. The problem with many studies is that they only consider men who're already suspicious that they're not the father. Naturally, more inclusive samplings lead to better overall estimates. Considering the few studies that I'm aware of which claim to use unbiased samples, it seems that about 2% of children and fathers are victims of paternity fraud. 2% might seem small, but, it's higher than the U.S. murder rate, and I've spoken to victims of paternity fraud, and I can assure you that when it happens, it inflicts a gut wrenching anguish beyond what most people can imagine. Furthermore, 2% of the four million births per year in the U.S. works out to 80,000 paternity frauds each year. Since each fraud has at least two victims, a man and a child, this works out to 160,000 victims per year, or about another victim every five minutes. I'd love to improve the law to better protect people from paternity fraud, and am working toward that end. Parenthetically, I'm reluctant to completely embrace the 2% rate until it's duplicated by other researchers in studies that include various socio-economic groups, which are thought to have different rates of paternity fraud. Thanks, Kingsley G. Morse Jr. Reproductive Rights Chairman National Center for Men Protect Voluntary Fatherhood www.choiceformen.com References: Professor Michael Gilding's interview here or here. Comprehensive summary of various studies and claims

Re:Link to comprehensive summary of various studie (Score:0) by Anonymous User on 06:13 AM July 8th, 2005 EST (#5) Here are more surveys, that might help you (or confuse you!) http://tinyurl.com/2yl43 Barry Pearson http://www.childsupportanalysis.co.uk/

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