Paternity or DNA Testing

[Dyldo]

Not sure where this is going to go, but has anyone on here done a paternity test? Or perhaps you've asked someone to do one?

[Dyldo]

genuine (non-funny) reason for asking but its still a bit of a taboo subject

[mikinoz]

Essential Baby: Parenting Information For Mothers, Fathers, Parents & Parents to be | essentialbaby.com.au

[Dyldo]

oh god, i just realised.... ha!! i should have been clearer. This isn't for my beautiful daughter lol. This is cause basically my whole family keeps my own biological father's identity a secret.

[shakespeare]

DNA testing for disease states will become popular in the near future and will most likely be something you can have tested at your local pharmacy. I work in the pharmacy industry and this is an avenue we're looking at to increase the health profile in retail pharmacy. Some of the things that could be identified are propensity to certain disease conditions, or even down to a fitness level - how your body would respond to physical training/weight loss etc could be identified through your genetic make up. This is already quite widely available in the US. Paternity testing could open all kinds of cans of worms though!

[Frankenstrat]

Dyldo, I feel certain that you have the right to that information under the Freedom Of Information Act. But like Shakespeare says, you may not appreciate what you find out, so there could be a very valid reason for protecting you from revealing who your biological father is. You should ask your family WHY they won't tell you. Maybe it's too unpleasant for them to divulge?

[brad]

oh god, i just realised.... ha!! i should have been clearer. This isn't for my beautiful daughter lol. This is cause basically my whole family keeps my own biological father's identity a secret.

Possibly not applicable to you but if the father is known, it will be on a birth certificate (not necessarily the one you have in your possession) at Births, Deaths & Marriages. Somewhere like the Benevolent Society's Post-Adoption Resource Centre should be able to help you with the process of finding out & also some counselling (eg: a bit of a run-down on what you may find out & how that might make you feel; the effect on your family, etc). IIRC, you need to apply through DOCS (Dept of Community Services) to get the info.

Did it all about 10 years back as i wanted to find out if there were any genetic medical issues in my birth-family that might cause problems with my kids. Mum was devastated. Dad could see my point but wasn't thrilled. Sister was very supportive.

Keep in mind that maybe nobody in your family knows who your Dad is. In my case, found out the birth-mothers details but it appears that the birth-father was some random she hooked up with. Oh, and I've got a Brother & Sister that I didn't know about - father also unknown. Pretty common, so prepare yourself for something similar.

This isn't all about you - so tread carefully and think about how the other family (that have stuck by you all these years) might feel. That doesn't mean don't do it - just take it slow & discuss things with the people that matter.

Good Luck on the journey.

[zbeasty]

I don't think a DNA or paternity test will do you much good unless there is someone that you think may be your biological father and they are willing to be tested as well. As far as I am aware there isn't a database that they can go to just look up once they have a result from you (or if they do have one the government isn't telling anyone about it). If it's to find out about DNA anomolies that could point to seceptibility to illness or diesease then the DNA test should tell you.

[schoona]

Possibly not applicable to you but if the father is known, it will be on a birth certificate (not necessarily the one you have in your possession) at Births, Deaths & Marriages. Somewhere like the Benevolent Society's Post-Adoption Resource Centre should be able to help you with the process of finding out & also some counselling (eg: a bit of a run-down on what you may find out & how that might make you feel; the effect on your family, etc). IIRC, you need to apply through DOCS (Dept of Community Services) to get the info.

Did it all about 10 years back as i wanted to find out if there were any genetic medical issues in my birth-family that might cause problems with my kids. Mum was devastated. Dad could see my point but wasn't thrilled. Sister was very supportive.

Keep in mind that maybe nobody in your family knows who your Dad is. In my case, found out the birth-mothers details but it appears that the birth-father was some random she hooked up with. Oh, and I've got a Brother & Sister that I didn't know about - father also unknown. Pretty common, so prepare yourself for something similar.

This isn't all about you - so tread carefully and think about how the other family (that have stuck by you all these years) might feel. That doesn't mean don't do it - just take it slow & discuss things with the people that matter.

Good Luck on the journey.

Quality response Brad