Whether using a home DNA paternity testing kit or deciding to use a DNA test lab for determining child parenthood, there are important differences that you should understand before pursuing either option.

Obviously, a DNA home test is very likely to cost less, but does it provide the results required when compared to using a DNA lab testing facility in determining the parenthood of a child?

There are several advantages and disadvantages to either which you must be aware of before making a final decision.

Certainly, paternity implies fatherhood and this can be established by an accredited testing laboratory using proper DNA genetic testing methods.

Any DNA paternity test must be performed to the legal standards set forth by authorized government regulations.

The results virtually ensure that the assumed father is also the biological father of a child.

Paternity is effectively disproved when the identical methods and standards employed demonstrate that a proposed father can not actually be the true biological father and with an extremely high degree of accuracy.

Lab or Home DNA Test Kit?

In prior years, DNA testing required using a laboratory presence; however, there are now various types of DNA tests presented for home use.

These DNA test kits are available either via online shopping or even direct from your favourite pharmacy. The cost for these home DNA tests can vary, depending on your preferences.

So what’s the difference? Either you buy a DNA testing kit or you engage the services of a reputable laboratory that is certified to perform DNA testing.

If you purchase a paternity testing kit, you are provided with tools for collecting and marking the DNA samples. Afterwards, you submit the results to the testing lab for verification.

Some weeks later, you receive the results that confirm or disprove the parenthood of the child.

If you buy a home kit for DNA testing, submit the results to the designated lab, you will almost certainly discover and confirm the nature of the parental relationship.

But, what you will NOT be able to do is submit these results in any court of law. This is the problem with home paternity DNA test kits.

If you only need to know if you are genetically related to the child in question, then this is your low cost and perhaps best option to pursue.

If perhaps there are child custody issues and substantial financial issues at stakes, it is likely better to adopt a strategy that is bullet-proof with respect to confirming genetic identity and paternity.

This implies that you should consider using a certified DNA paternity testing lab and forgo the home testing kits.

By recognizing the importance of all aspects with respect to collecting DNA samples, delivering them properly, analyzing them and providing certified results, you are likely to receive guaranteed proof in almost all courts of law.

It may cost somewhat more, but the results may definitely be worth it in the long run.

Free DNA Testing Kits

With a minimum of research, you can most likely find a free DNA test online or otherwise.  Most home DNA test kits are essentially the same and easy to use.

A basic and easy to use DNA paternity test kit can cost roughly $200.00.  A low-cost DNA test kit like this is often used for proving paternity to an unbelieving father or perhaps for family members who are only looking for basic confirmation and some peace of mind.

Other in-home DNA tests can include testing for perhaps the mother, assumed father, and obviously the child in question.  It is not necessary that the mother be tested but this is recommended if her DNA samples are available.

DNA paternity testing is effectively so powerful that tests can be conducted even when no mother is available.

There are no age limits with respect to DNA paternity testing.  In the past, it was the case that only newborns over the age of six months could be tested.

But this is definitely no longer the case and it is usually only necessary to extract some umbilical cord blood at birth or use swabs to collect from the cheek cells of an infant.

A DNA paternity test is most likely the most accurate manner of paternity testing possible. If the DNA patterns between the child and the presumed father do not match with respect to two or more DNA probes, then it is virtually without a doubt that the alleged father is 100% excluded and therefore cannot possibly be the biological father of the child.

What to Consider Before having a Paternity Test

Got questions about ancestry? Paternity? Uncover the answers with genetic testing from DNA Services of America.

Located in Santa Ana, California, this medical lab staffs qualified geneticists, providing legally admissible results that can confirm or disprove your hypothesis.

Want to know more about DNA testing? David Hartshorne of DNA testing service Orchid Cellmark in Oxfordshire answers some common questions about the DNA testing process and choosing a lab.

There are additional testing procedures that must be performed after DNA samples have been properly collected and submitted to a certified lab for paternity testing.

Whether for confirmation of paternity, maternity, genetic relationships, legal requirements or simply peace of mind, once the samples have been delivered to the testing facility, the actions performed and the results provided are beyond the control of the potential biological parents, relatives, lawyers and all government agencies.

This is EXACTLY how it should be so as to ensure that the samples have not been tampered with, the identities of those submitting the samples are confirmed and that there is no abuse or interference with how the DNA testing lab conducts the tests and the lab analysis provided.

Confirming DNA Samples and Preparation for Testing

It is not necessary for any one submitting to a DNA test to fully understand the procedures involved in preparation of the samples for testing. The information provided is provided for those wishing to comprehend how such lab testing is performed.

What is likely far more important is to establish a communication interface between the testing laboratory, legal representatives and the individuals requesting the DNA analysis. This is highly warranted in legal cases involving paternity identification, child custody issues and financial support concerns.

Laboratory Analysis Methods

Testing for paternity identity using a DNA test involves a series of processes and actions that begin with the individuals seeking confirmation about fatherhood, motherhood and perhaps also their genealogy or sibling relationships.

Before proceeding with any form of certified DNA testing, it is suggested to learn more about the nature of DNA and how it chemically defines relationships among family members and possibly those not previously considered to be so.

Understanding DNA and Family

Once a decision has been made to identify paternity with DNA, either by legal directive or voluntarily using a home DNA kit, the chosen laboratory for testing will require the collection of genetic sampling material from each of the individuals involved.

This is a simple and painless process involving swabbing the cells within the mouth and submitting them for DNA analysis. This procedure may be conducted by a professional on your behalf for a legal based paternity test or individually using a home testing kit.

Collecting DNA Samples

When voluntarily requesting or submitting to a legally directed DNA test for paternity or even using a home testing DNA kit, the actions required may be quite different.

This is considered as the initial part of the testing process and may vary greatly for each family or individual.

What is likely not different is what occurs after the results are submitted to a certified DNA testing laboratory for analysis.

There are certain common procedures and actions that virtually all test labs must follow.

Once DNA samples have been properly collected from the potential biological parents and delivered to the testing laboratory, a DNA profile must be generated corresponding to each of the individuals submitting a DNA sample.

After the genetic profiles are created, the next step required is to compare these profiles and determine the probability of a DNA match or the possibility of a non-match.

The laboratory will strive to determine to an accuracy approaching virtually 100 percent that the individuals are related or not. It is also important to note that the lab tests are performed twice in order to ensure that the analysis is completely replicatable and not suspect.

Generating DNA Profiles

Comparing DNA Profiles

Often, if you are new to DNA paternity testing, it is very hard for you to choose the right DNA testing center. And this can be often be very disheartening and frustrating. In today’s episode, I’m going to shares some simple steps to start a DNA paternity testing. For more information about DNA testing – log on to DNAmazing.com

How reliable are DNA paternity tests? We took then at an office, and from there they are being mailed to a lab.

Would that in any way affect the DNA?

Hi, me and my girlfriend are trying to figure out if I’m the father of her baby. Her doctor would not do the amnio and we researched online and apparently many labs now offer non-invasive prenatal paternity testing.

We called and set up everything with a company called DNA Plus and she’s supposed to go get her blood taken at the hospital today. The guy on the phone told us not to mention anything about paternity testing to the hospital.

Doesn’t that seem kind of shady? Me and her are scared because of the reliability of this now. The website claims basically 100% accuracy and they are BBB accredited.

Here is a link to the page by the way: http://www.dnaplus.com/fetal_cell_prenat…

Also, we have to ship the blood aand DNA samles ourselves using FedEx.

I called them back (btw, its ALWAYS the same guy that answers the phone and its 24/7) and asked them why we can’t mention anything and he said “its none of the hospital’s business. and hospitals don’t like doing anything paternity related because it can end up leading to an abortion, and all the paperwork says we’re doing bloodtesting which that is what we’re doing.”

Waiting till the baby is born is not an option. We’re both going through emotional turmoil and need an answer. Nobody in the family even knows she’s pregnant due to the embarrassing circumstances.

I was casually seeing a girl in 2007. We were never in a relationship and only saw each other when it suited her. She then told me she was pregnant and said she knew I was the father.

I was shocked and told her I couldn’t be more against having a baby with her. She said she didn’t want or need anything from me, and gave me her word. I insisted on a paternity test and even after she said she would pay for it, I had to. Then I had to wait 9 agonizing months until I could get the saliva samples from the mother and baby and send them to a lab along with mine.

The test 100% excluded me from paternity . The girl said “that’s a load of shit, you are the only possible father”. I told her to never contact me again. She didn’t for two years, until yesterday she phoned while I was out ( I saw her number as a missed call).

WTF this brings it all back to me, even though I have the DNA results that say I am not the father I get the feeling this woman is going to still give me trouble and insist that I am the father.

Any advice would be appreciated.
Addition: The paternity test was not one through the legal system. I simply obtained the samples and posted them to the lab so the results are not legally binding.

If she does insist, should I tell her to go the legal route?, which would mean a paternity test would be requested by the courts?.

As I told her to leave me the hell alone after I got the results, I doubt she wants to catch up or apoligise. If I did another test and it was positive, I wouldnt accept that. If the first one can be wrong the second one can too. If so I will take a third!

This place called any lab test now is where my husband had the dna test done for the suspected child his ex was claiming was his after 4 years. It only took 48 hours to get the results.

I share kids with my husband and they look so much like him it isn’t even funny. This kid resembles nothing of him at all. The dna test came back like 97%. This is not a submissible test result for court.

I just have this feeling that this child is not his. So what I am trying to ask is 48 hours a little soon to get results and could this test been a spoof like one that you go to and yeah whoever shows is the father.

Has anyone had this happen or know someone its happened to?  How often does false results happen?

I’m going to go for paternity testing and considering that I only slept with one person, I know who the father is. But what if a drunk or stupid person is working at the lab when I and the father go for testing?

A friend of mine took a DNA paternity test though the District attorneys office approved testing lab and the test came back that the father was not the father. She says she was a virgin when she got pregnant.

I have recently had a “non-invasive prenatal paternity test” but I am not entirely convinced that it is reliable.

At first I thought it would be ok but now I am not so sure, after reading up on the internet about it all I am just not entirely confident in the result.

I think my last period was the 12th july and when I went for a dating ultrasound scan (in october) they said I was 13 weeks 6 days which made conception around the 28th july giving me a due date of 19th april… that would tie in with my period date.

That was when I was with my new boyfriend. We wanted a DNA test because on the 19th july (before me and my current boyfriend got together), I was with someone else (my ex), so we wanted to be sure.

The “lab” says they do the test using maternal blood because there is fetal DNA that has passed through the placenta circulating in it, so I had my blood taken and sent it in along with a cheek swab from my boyfriend.

I was quite confident that the test would come back saying he is the father, but it hasn’t, and it doesn’t seem right, I have questioned the lab about the accuracy and they said if I send in a swab from the other alleged father they’d have a better picture to look at….. (this would also cost more money).

I asked another lab their opinion and they said they don’t offer the test because they dont think it is reliable, and I have read some reports on this kind of testing and since found out its not that good, I just wondered if anyone has any knowledge on this.

I have read that most labs won’t do it because there has been reports of inaccurate results, but the company I used are confident that their results are conclusive, but I’ve also noticed they are not AABB accredited. The labs that only offer amnio or cvs all are accredited.

Thanks in advance for any helpful advice.

My family and I want a paternity test to be performed but we all live in different countries.

We want an official, government test (at a hospital) who can then issue a certificate of paternity robablility rather than a home test.

Can collect the samples at our diferent locations and send them in to the test centre, or do we have to be there in person?

Alos, I understand that the result will be more accurate with the mother’s DNA as well?

Cheers