Partners should know about paternity

This should be the last generation when a significant proportion of children born into (quasi-) marriages in "the Western world" have a paternity that would surprise the (quasi-) husband.

What?

The aim is that "all children born have a paternity which is known and accepted by the husband or male partner".

If a child is born whose bio-father is not the husband or male partner, there a genuine dilemma - there is a child whose needs must still be met, and possibly one who believes the man concerned is their father. Some men themselves are not sure whether they want to know the truth, and there is no doubt that many of them are devastated when they learn that they are not the bio-father. (Then, having to pay child support as well becomes a double-whammy).

Why?

This proposal is based on the simple logic that trying to sort things out after the child is born is too late. It is better to ensure that such dilemmas don't arise. It is better to have a society where, because of the certainty of being found out, women don't give birth to children whose paternity would be a surprise to their husbands or male partners.

This objective must not be confused with "eliminate paternity fraud", because it is significantly different. That is because the "paternity fraud" discussion is concerned with what should happen when a child has already been born whose bio-father is not the husband or male partner. That is the wrong time to sort out the problems.

The typical paternity fraud case is where a mother claims child support from a man, falsely identifying him as the father of the child. He may simply acknowledge that he is the father, and start paying. He may be judged to be the father, and be required to start paying. Or it may be judged "not in the interest of the child" to determine his true relationship with the child, and he is required to start paying anyway. There are many variations, such as an automatic "presumption" that a husband is the father, or there may be a time period allowed for a challenge to the ruling. Where the requirement to pay child support can be terminated by proper determination, there are variations in whether the man can get the money back (and if so, from whom). There is rarely if ever a penalty against the mother for the false claim.

Many of the actions taken against the men concerned are flawed, and increasingly this is recognised. But they arise from a genuine dilemma - there is a child whose needs must still be met, and possibly one who believes the man concerned is their father. Some men themselves are not sure whether they want to know the truth, and there is no doubt that many of them are devastated when they learn that they are not the bio-father. (Then, having to pay child support as well becomes a double-whammy).

This is not an objective about "morals" - this web site is not about morals. This objectives is about the practical consequences of those dilemmas. How to achieve the objective is for those concerned to sort out for themselves. This may be to avoid adultery, to use contraceptives, to have an abortion, to disclose the true paternity to the husband or male partner, or to separate so that there isn't a male partner.

The most obvious winners are children and fathers. By extension, "society" will benefit because of the reduced conflict. (Women who don't "conceive away" will not be affected. Or perhaps they will gain because their faithfulness will be undoubted).

The most obvious losers will be women who want to "conceive away" and not be found out. In future, they WILL be found out. They will risk destroying their partnership, with no resultant claim on the male partners. Other losers will be the REAL fathers of the children, who will typically be forced to take responsibility. (In effect, they will come into the category of the "stupid men" who should have used male contraceptives, see above! And they will pay for their stupidity for perhaps 16 or 18 years!)

How?

The technology concerned is DNA/paternity testing, of course. But that simply "enables" paternity to be established beyond doubt. It will be all the health issues relating to genes, especially but not only those arising from the Human Genome Project, which "causes" an explosion in establishment of genetic relationships. See also:
Wives & female partners who "conceive away"

Sometimes science & technology developments are convincingly aligned with "what society wants" (eg. a cure for Smallpox). Sometimes there is a reasonable consensus that science & technology developments are contrary to "what society wants" (eg. biological weapons). And sometimes there are various "equally valid" social futures, some of which would be helped by inevitable technology developments, while some would be opposed by those same technology developments.

This page states a social objectives which would be helped by inevitable technology developments. This objectives may appear desirable to some, or irrelevant or undesirable to others. But because the science & technology developments are pretty inevitable, it would be wise to improve society by exploiting these developments, and foolish to try to achieve alternative social objectives which would be thwarted by these developments. These are not "profound" objectives (such as "everyone should tolerate the views of everyone else in the world"), and in the UK they are probably the views of the majority anyway. However, they can still be hindered by short term or narrow policies, identified here.

In summary, the actions needed are those that:

• make suitable technology available
• avoid any barriers to the use of this technology
• encourage the truth about paternity to be available to all concerned
• remove financial and other motives for women to have such children
• discourage men other than the husband or male partner from becoming such a bio-father

Although this objective is different from "eliminate paternity fraud", one of the desirable actions is indeed to eliminate paternity fraud. That is because the availability of paternity fraud means that some women will not be discouraged from giving birth to such children. In fact, it is desirable to make paternity fraud a punishable offence, as with other attempts to obtain money by deception.

References