I think that with all the Hoo-Haa and feigned concern issuing forth from the corridors of power and the Children`s Services regarding the non-payment of outstanding child maintenance payments by errant "alleged" fathers/husbands and ex partners, it is time for the whole situation to be examined carefully!

The Governments past and present have wilfully and wantonly encouraged the female population to breed, in the policy of populate or perish, resulting in an unprecedented incidence of extra-marital relationships and births.

The sanctity of marriage has been classed as a non-event and has never really been an issue with the promiscuity of society in general!
The inevitable result has been that every Tom, Dick (sic) and Mary have bred like rabbits to procure some of the short-term rewards paid out (by the Taxpayers) in the way of Baby Bonuses and Child/Family Benefits.

We now have a situation where a lot of the "alleged" fathers of some of these babies are being persued mercilessly around the country in an effort to compel them to honour their "alleged" responsibility! In some cases the "alleged" fathers are NOT the biological father of the subject child, which sometimes has occurred as a result of a an undeclared "dalliance " on the part of the mother! She does NOT have the moral intestinal fortitude to admit the "error" at the same time not wanting to lose the mealticket that is presented in the way of maintenance payments/child support on the occasion that the couple part ways ( which seems to be very commonplace today!)

I would suggest that in light of this monstrous technicality,....all babies, their mothers and the alleged fathers should automatically be DNA tested at time of Birth and prior to the Registration of the Birth! This would ensure that in the event of a dispute as to the paternity of a child, the true facts are available and an unwitting victim will not be compelled to accept the responsibilty that rightfully belongs to someone else!

Cuphandle while I agree with you about the problems of overpopulation, it takes two people to breed as you so delicately put it.

Do we really believe that in most of these cases the "errant" fathers are not the biological father? If they are not then the matter can always be resolved as I believe that anyone can ask for a DNA test under the law. If they are proven to be the father at least we can get rid of the term "alleged" from the equation and get on with the important business of how the interests of the children are best served.

Why not go full big brother. If we are going to make DNA testing mandatory, it should be a national database so that when DNA is listed it be crossmatched to see if there are any other children out there that might be related (after an amorous affair perhaps) and then those men can be forced to pay child support for a child they did not know about. That will solve any issues of biological fatherhood and ensure the right person is paying child support.

The saddest situation would be when a man finds out he is not the biological father of a child he has bonded with and feels in all other aspects, the "father".

Pelican, "I believe that anyone can ask for a DNA test under the law"

Asking for and getting are two different things. I chased this issue some time back. I'm not sure what has been implemented in law but the proposal from the Australian Law Reform Commission at the time was that without a court order DNA paternity testing would only be legal if the mother consented. To get an order you would have to pay the legal costs associated with getting one as well as demonstrate the likelyhood that you were not the father (not just be suspicious).

http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/other/alrc/publications/reports/96/_5_Executive_Summary.doc.html

"DNA parentage testing should be conducted only with the consent of each person sampled, or pursuant to a court order. In the case of a child who is unable to make an informed decision, testing should go ahead only with the consent of both parents, or pursuant to a court order. In those cases in which agreement cannot be reached—for example, because a mature child or a person with parental responsibility withholds consent or is unavailable—a court may authorise testing, after taking the child’s interests into account. In order to ensure high ethical standards and technical competence, DNA parentage testing should be conducted only by NATA-accredited laboratories, operating in accordance with the specific accreditation standards in this area. Information about the availability of genetic counselling should be provided to the parties."

Right or wrong the person seeking the test runs the risk of that being used to turn children against them.

The justification boiled down in part to a concern that the mothers privacy would be breached if she had had an affair and did not want a partner or former partner to know.

From the material I've seen the rates of false paternity are high for those tested but the tests are generally conducted in situations where there is already suspicion about the paternity of the child. I've not seen anything that looked like reliable material regarding general levels of paternal accuracy.

R0bert

RObert you bring up some good points. It is probably not as simple as first thought.

Difficult like most of these issues to do with gender and families.

'The justification boiled down in part to a concern that the mothers privacy would be breached if she had had an affair and did not want a partner or former partner to know.'

Haha. Yet another instance of women being protected at any cost to men:-)

Child support has always been a problem, 50 years ago men went on the road from country town to interstate to avoid it.
The bit about DNA is true men have battled for years to find out if doubts they hold are true, but it is hard to get those tests.
It is also true that some pay for others children, and like it or not some single mothers produce kids for the money.
I am no woman hater but we must know some do lie about who is the father and just maybe DNA should be used at every birth.
But are we aware of the impacts?
Sorry pure Aussie humor but true, in some country towns the say the definition of confusion is fathers day.
All true all sad but some kids are to some parents just a cash cow.
To think in fact children are to most of us the greatest treasure we will be honored to hold for a time in our lives and to others?