Do you think newborns in the state should be genetically tested to identify the child’s father? / LJWorld.com

Asked at Dillons, 1015 West 23rd St. on February 12, 2011

“No, I don’t. I don’t really have a reason, I just think it’s unnecessary.”

— Jason Jacobs, painter, Lawrence

“It’d solve a lot of problems and clear out a lot of court dockets. You’d have to weigh out what’s more expensive, paternity tests or court cases. If it’s cost-effective, I think it’s a great idea.”

— John Koch, customer service, Lawrence

“Not required, it should be an optional thing.”

— Kenna Wright, disabled, Lawrence

“No, I think it would cause more problems.”

— Matt Nelson, KU graduate student, Lawrence

Bill in Kansas House would require paternity testing for every Kansas newborn

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I don't think that paternity testing should be mandatory, but I do think that if a paternity test comes back negative that the guy should be off the hook for child support. Unfortunately, that's not always the case.

firefighter88 3 years ago

Are you kidding me?? Unless the "said" parents are married, the man has to consciously make the choice to sign the birth certificate. So if any man is "on the hook", it's his own darn fault if he had any doubts. If you're married, well then...sorry, sometimes you do get screwed.

Bill Lee 3 years ago

Why don't they just give us a number when we're born and put our DNA on file in case we're ever involved in a crime? The number can be used for everything...identity, credit scores, licenses, memberships, etc.

RoeDapple 3 years ago

No. You realize of course goat farmers in seven counties are anxiously awaiting the passage of this bill.

Tony Kisner 3 years ago

Yes. We should create a show like Springer with the State Attorney General as the host. This is a great idea.

Bob Forer 3 years ago

I thought the same thing. This didn't come from right field, but instead, all the way from McCovey Cove. Strange.

FloridaSunshine 3 years ago

The Bob only recognizes posts that are not threaded...

FloridaSunshine 3 years ago

Just think, if we thread, we can talk about him all we want and he'll never know!! Gotta luv that!!!

ivalueamerica 3 years ago

OMG, This has NAZI Germany written all over it.

The State should not, in any way shape or form be holding genetic profiles of our children.

And this comes form the party of less government intrusion.

pace 3 years ago

Supposedly it was from a democrat from Wichita.Melody McCray Miller . I have heard some statistics, 1 to 3 percent "error" on fraternity. That includes wide varieties in populations.

BigPrune 3 years ago

McD's sounds much easier.

FloridaSunshine 3 years ago

T_O_B...I'm sure your son would really NOTappreciate being called, "the boy", as opposed to "my boy" or "my son"...I personally believe his happy heart would skip a beat if he heard you call him "my boy" or "my son"...

I've addressed this issue before regarding men who call the loves of their lives, "the wife", as opposed to "my wife"...you never hear women refer to their beloved ones as "the husband"...it's always "my husband"...during that post, I asked for someone to please answer my question as to why men use the word, "the", instead of "my"...and as I suspected would happen, no one answered me. Oh, well, I'll have to draw my own conclusions...

Deja Coffin 3 years ago

I often use the word "the" before addressing my husband although I use a different name for him then husband and it's usually after he has done something to really tick me off.

KUnlv13 3 years ago

Florida Sunshine, take your hyper-sensitivity elsewhere. It's truly none of your business how those within a family choose to address one another. Jeez, you're probably on your neighborhood's HOA, too; dropping citations on door steps for those with burnt out light-bulbs on the garage door facade.

FloridaSunshine 3 years ago

Oh, I thought this to be a discussion forum...what's to discuss if no one says anything??? Advocating for children is the biggest part of my life, and I know how I would have felt if my mom or dad had called me "the girl"...or "the daughter"...and also how I would have felt if my husband had ever called me "the wife"... Nope, I'm not on your neighborhood's HOA...but I could be one of your neighbors...wouldn't THAT be a hoot???!!! :~) Our HOA drives the whole area crazy...but that's what we all get for deciding to live in a restricted area, right?

triplegoddess13 3 years ago

Personally I prefer the term "the" instead of "my because I'm not the property of anyone. 'My' is is term used to describe property. Last I checked I wasn't cattle.

notorious_agenda 3 years ago

exactly. Being called "The man" is better than being called "My man"

"The" implies you are "the only" (think: the most important) "My" implies you are "mine of many similar"

BigPrune 3 years ago

After 2 years, the kid is legally the responsibility of the guy who is named the father at birth. It'd keep them women in line who were wanting to live the Jerry Springer lifestyle.

50YearResident 3 years ago

With everyone sleeping around with each other without the benefit of a mirriage certificate this is an excellent idea. We all know who the mother is but the man in question deserves to know if the child is really his or one of 20 other guys in question. It can mean the differance of 21 years of child support which now costs well over $ one hundred thousand dollars and a life of greif or joy. Do it!

BigPrune 3 years ago

Once I was told by an attorney that I'd be surprised at how many men are out there raising kids that aren't their own because their wife or girlfriend had screwed around on them. If a woman can legally kill the baby up until birth without the father having a say in the matter, then why not require mandatory genetic testing to determine fatherhood once the baby is born and legally considered a human being? If the so-called father doesn't protest within 2 years of birth then he has 18 years of responsibility for a kid that might not be his own, if there's any question.

tomatogrower 3 years ago

Then let the father demand a test, not the government. And I don't know what kind of world you are living in, but most of the people I know don't sleep around.

50YearResident 3 years ago

Do you know anyone between the age of 16 to35?

FloridaSunshine 3 years ago

50YearResident...your guesstimation of ages 16 to 35...WAY OFF!!!! Try going years younger...and years older...

tomatogrower 3 years ago

I guess I just hang out with the non Jerry Springer, anti soap opera crowd.

govh8ter 3 years ago

The courts think women can do no wrong, so lots of guys get stuck raising kids that aren't theirs. I wonder if law enforcement would have access to this new data base? Come into my life some more big brother.

ksriver2010 3 years ago

The insurance industry must be behind this somehow. If they can genetically profile us they can charge us through the wazoo for any coverage, even if we haven't manifested the disease.

Scott Morgan 3 years ago

Please pass the aluminum hats.

VTHawk 3 years ago

This isn't aluminum hat stuff, but fact. It is the same reason that they ask you if you have a history of heart disease, cancer, etc...

Flap Doodle 3 years ago

The state of Kansas has the option of extracting DNA from the stool sample I'm sending in Monday.

CHKNLTL 3 years ago

i recommend using Fed Ex.

Katara 3 years ago

booyalab 3 years ago

I think a national DNA database is OK, as long as the sample is destroyed after the DNA's ID profile is encoded and the information is only accessible by law enforcement. I don't think it should be required of everyone for paternity testing purposes. That's such a lame reason that it would be hard not to suspect the state of ulterior motives.

tomatogrower 3 years ago

And you're willing to pay more taxes for this?

CHKNLTL 3 years ago

you think a DNA database is okay.....why? This is one more way you can be discriminated against. genes are small for a reason darn it!

KansasPerson 3 years ago

T_O_B, the suspense is killing me. Did you make gravy, or didn't you?

CHKNLTL 3 years ago

i know women who pay child support to their ex-husbands to take care of the children. it can be paid either way. and to my knowledge, from guys i know, the court expressly offered then paternity tests before child support payments were ever ordered, to make sure they were the parent. if people choose not to test, that is their own problem to find a lab to test for them outside court when they don't want to pay. the state should not be involved any further that taking prints on the certificate. what's in that ink they use anyway? probably toxic crap from china laced with lead.

notanota 3 years ago

Just because the divorce rate is high does not mean it's high because the kids were fathered by someone else. And it's not like DNA tests can only be done on infants.

What's the failure rate of this test? What happens when the labs mix up the results and tell someone erroneously that they're not the father of their child? Yeah, no consequences there.

sr80 3 years ago

what do you think babies are made of ?? i think your mother nun smacked you on the head to much or was it the pope?!?!???

valgrlku 3 years ago

This already (sorta) happens anyway, via newborn DNA cord blood banking: http://www.aclu.org/free-speech-technology-and-liberty-womens-rights/newborn-dna-banking

I love how the leaders of this fine state keep working on issues that have already been decided (more or less) or are non-issues (voter fraud, anyone?), rather than getting down to actually addressing issues that matter the most. Anyone who is being sued for child support can request that a paternity test be done, and it's been that way for quite some time. So what, again, is the real issue here?

CHKNLTL 3 years ago

weed out the mutants!!

Ron Holzwarth 3 years ago

RETICENT_IRREVERENT, I think you are overreacting.

It's a hypothetical question asked on the street. It is not being discussed by the lawmakers in Topeka.

But you do have a point. What your wife might have done in private 9 months before her child was born should be of no interest to you at all, because that was her individual choice.

RoeDapple 3 years ago

Oh Ron! But it is!

Bill in Kansas House would require paternity testing for every Kansas newborn by Associated Press LJWorld.com

Ron Holzwarth 3 years ago

Oh wow, Roe, I didn't know that!

Deja Coffin 3 years ago

I know this is the 5th paternity test we've done but I am 110% sure this man is the babies daddy....

If it's required can you also throw in the optional visit to Maury for the results?

verity 3 years ago

As already stated, if there is any doubt a test can be requested. I've had a person tell me that he was suspicious, but didn't want to know if his wife's (ex-wife at the time) child was not his.

I thought I saw an article that this law was being proposed (federal, state?). Can't find it now. Does anybody know?

It does seem to be: (1) One more encroachment into our personal lives with no reason and (2) an unnecessary expense when there are so many other things that are a matter of life and death for people.

pace 3 years ago

Here is the article, one of many. Kansas is hitting the AP. http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2011/feb/12/bill-kansas-house-would-require-paternity-testing-/#c1521941

Richard Payton 3 years ago

Does anyone have a birther card reading Bastard like in those Hollywood movies?

mrjcg2 3 years ago

This is not something that should be mandated in every birth, really kind of a stupid idea. Aren't there more important issues facing our state at the moment?

clockworkowl 3 years ago

Just to be fair, shouldn't the mother be tested as well to make sure it is HER child? Someone may have slipped her a mickey and implanted her with someone else's embryo!

verity 3 years ago

One word---well, two. Chastity belt. That would solve everything.

verity 3 years ago

Of course, you'd have to leave your DNA to get the key.

(I love threads!)

pace 3 years ago

I wonder if this is the inevitable future, DNA records of, first the military, criminals, now newborns and fathers, all required. It will be the test for citizenry, voting, insurance? There will be more and more corporate reasons for DNA tracking. The only " persons" without a DNA will be the newly personalized corporations. With a multitude of reasons, such as accurate identification required for voting, social security, insurance. Many states are advocating taking away the citizenship of some of the persons born here, then there will be other good reasons to deprive "certain' people of citizen rights. With DNA records come genetic information. With the possibility of reform of the Healthcare Reform Bill, the insurance companies services and health care will be partitioned. The laws of public emergency care will be nullified. With the monetary crisis we can't afford to be free of certain restraints. Once again I might be looking at thing a bit darkly.

tunahelper 3 years ago

how about testing the Hawaiian Dude to see if he truly is an American!!!

pace 3 years ago

I think sanity tests for the birthers? Sadly when they are found delusional the resources available to them is peer counseling, Scientology or in worst case scenarios a map of local bridges. . There isn't enough mental health resources available. Hawaii is a state. Obama is a citizen. The politicians and spin-masters who aid and abet the lies should be charged with fraud.
The wing nut ads and spin have reached some of the more disturbed and self deceiving people in America. They will wake up from this self deception and go to the next easy button. Being informed is not easy, being suckered is.

Richard Heckler 3 years ago

Unless there is a question about who the father might be why do it?

Nothing like adding a new expense to health care. These Brownback thinkers are not fiscal conservatives.

Brownback brought reckless Washington D.C. beltway thinking back to Kansas.

verity 3 years ago

Yeah, I noticed it was a Democrat. What's up with that? I can't even blame it on the Republicans trying to interfere in my personal life and keep me from adulterous behavior.

tolawdjk 3 years ago

What's to stop any of them dirty Missourians or Okies from crossing our borders, having one of them Kansas anchor babies, then using our health care system to find out their babydaddy's ID?

RaynRavyn 3 years ago

Well, tolawdjk, what's to stop Kansans from crossing the borders to avoid this bs? There is zero chance that this is going to affect me, as I'm not going to be giving birth, but I imagine that IF this were to happen, the birth rate in Kansas would drop sharply.

beeshlii 3 years ago

we should start with you, its not to late. who's your daddy, diddy.

newcomer 3 years ago

It's only possible to 'identify the child's father' if the father's DNA is available for comparison. It's one thing if a man believes he's not the father and is willing to provide a DNA sample, but otherwise it's useless unless ALL men are required to be tested. Will that be next? And are we going to ask men world-wide to join in? Because people do move around you know...... One-night stands, rape, sperm-banks - how do any of those situations fit in here? And as for 'married couples who have several children' - what the heck is that all about?

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