Being a parent can be one of the most important roles in a person's life. After all, this little being relies on you for nearly everything, and you have to bring them up to be a good person. So, it's natural to bond with a child. But what do you do when you learn that you have been deceived into forming this bond? For example, through a falsified test. This is exactly the question that was asked by today's OP -- the man who was tricked into raising someone else's child for 11 years.
More info: Reddit
How do you react when you learn that you're not the biological parent of your 11-year-old child?
Image credits: Jonathan Borba (not the actual photo)
The man found out that his 11-year-old wasn't his son after he did a DNA test because the kid didn't look like him
Image credits: George Chambers (not the actual photo)
Image credits: Edward Jenner (not the actual photo)
Image credits: u/Significant_Chest292
Turns out, 11 years ago, his ex-girlfriend faked a paternity test by using the real father's sample but writing the man's information
When the currently 30-year-old OP was 18, his girlfriend at the time got pregnant. After the baby was born, they conducted the paternity test because the girlfriend confessed to cheating when she became pregnant. The paternity showed that the OP was the baby’s father.
11 years later, the man noticed that his son was starting to look like his ex’s lover, whom she had cheated on him with all those years prior. So, the OP decided to redo the paternity test. A DNA paternity test usually uses a sample from a person's cheek swab. These tests are extremely accurate, as it’s reported they can show the results with 99.9% accuracy. After the OP did such a test, it turned out that his son wasn’t actually his.
Apparently, the man’s ex falsified the paternity test all those years ago by using the real father’s DNA and putting the OP’s information on the test. Basically, his ex stole 11 years of his life and created a huge emotional rollercoaster for the boy, as well.
So, the OP decided to try to get his legal obligations to the child removed. In other words, he wants to be removed from the birth certificate. He notes that he doesn’t want to abandon the child. He just doesn’t want to have any legal obligations to him so as not to give his ex any power.
The lawyer assured the man that a felony was committed against him. Sadly, no prosecutors in his state were willing to take on this case. That’s how the man became the OP of the Reddit post -- he came online to ask for netizens' help on what he should do in this situation. The woman is clearly guilty, and he has all the evidence, but no one is willing to take the case.
Image credits: Andrea Piacquadio (not the actual photo)
Let’s be honest: random people online aren’t the best choice for advice on legal questions. Many of them didn’t really provide any proper legal advice. They only speculated about the details of the situation. For example, someone said that it is possible that the paternity test that was done 11 years ago was a home one and not a legally recognized one.
At-home paternity tests can be purchased online, done at home, and then sent to the lab. It’s quite easy to falsify such tests. For this reason, home tests aren’t usually accepted by the court as a proper paternity test. They are viewed as being for personal use or for cases when you need “peace of mind.” So, if one day a person who did a home paternity test needs to prove that in court, it might not hold up as fitting evidence.
On the other hand, sometimes netizens are good with moral advice. And that’s what some of them served this time. In fact, there was one comment that especially stood out -- this commenter said that the man should separate the child from his mother’s actions. The pre-teen didn’t do anything wrong, and he should not be punished for the way his mother deceived the OP. After all, in this case, he’s still the boy’s father because he’s present in his life, and it doesn't matter that they don’t share any genes. So, according to this commenter, the OP should stop saying that the woman “stole” 11 years from him, as these words sound like he doesn’t love the kid.
Some people online acted as the man's moral compass and told him not to punish the child for his mother's crimes
