Had Dad

‘“HE’S got his father’s red hair,” says the newspaper on seeing photos of young Prince Harry. “Nonsense!” says another. “It’s those proud ears that display his Royal heritage.”

‘I have nothing to declare but my ID card’

And so the debate goes on. And it’s the kind of conversation many more men and women could be having today as they read the Telegraph’s front-page story: “1 in 25 men in dark as they raise other’s children.”

A report by the centre for public health at Liverpool’s John Moores University says a rise in genetic testing for diseases in families suggests that many men are being duped into raising another’s child.

Professor Mark Bellis, one of the study’s authors, says that “advances in genetics mean that there is now more pressure for a child to know who his or her biological parents are.”

While this is good news for the likes of TV’s Trisha, whose show focuses on warring parents and uses DNA checks to see which chav is little Bianca’s real dada, it’s not so great for the people involved.

As the report, published in the prosaic Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, says, the realisation that the child a father’s been raising as their own was sired by another man “can have substantial health consequences”.

“Such knowledge can also destroy families, affecting the health of the child and mother as well as that of any man who is ultimately identified as the biological parent.”

So what to do? The obvious move is to call up Trisha’s team of researchers and book a slot on the show immediately. But she can only accommodate so much ‘talent’.

So the Times steps in between uncertain dad and worried mum with its handy “HOW TO CHECK OUT FATHERHOOD” guide.

Fathers can contact a “DIY-testing” company, which offer checks for as little as £75. A man keen to distance himself from the unruly tyke, who looks nothing like him, can take a DNA sample from the child’s mouth.

And even if the mother does not consent to giving her own DNA sample, just using dad’s and junior’s can produce a result which is 99.9 per cent accurate.

Of course, there is any easier way to tell if the child is yours – if Demi’s intelligent, good looking and determined to look after you in your dotage she’s a chip off the old block; if she’s pregnant at 15, violent and hooked on alcopops, she’s his…’

Posted: 11th, August 2005 | In: Uncategorized Comment | TrackBack | Permalink