03/15/2022
Is the state of Tennessee turning a blind eye to paternity fraud?
I was stopped in the barber shop by a male citizen who told me the story of him being in a long term relationship. A baby was produced and he signed the birth certificate because he had no reason to believe there was infidelity. A little over five years later, he was told by a close relative of the mother that she had been with her ex boyfriend during the time they were together. This prompted him to seek a DNA test. The test results proved that he was not the father. Subsequently, the relationship ended. The woman then opened a child support case against him. While in Juvenille Court, he presented the DNA evidence to the magistrate and was basically told, “somebody’s got to feed him and it will be you.” He was ordered to pay child support and walked out of the court in arrears. Eventually his license was suspended and he was pulled over for driving on a suspended license and taken to jail. Sitting in jail, he lost his job. His life was turned upside down due to this situation. Because he initially signed it and it had passed the 5 year window to go through the legal process to rescind before he found out the truth, this man was legally considered the father of the child even though DNA results proved he was not. In this story are multiple tragedies. Not only was he not the father, but the actual biological father’s right to be the legal parent to their actual biological child was stolen from them. It would take a huge legal battle to gain those rights back. Lastly, under this scenario, the child's right to have their legal biological father listed on their birth certificate and in their lives is have been stolen from them also.
It is reported that one third of the signatures on birth certificates do not reflect the biological fathers name. House Bill 2698/Senate Bill 1777 allows u***d, prospective fathers to voluntarily sign birth certificates, but in order for the birth certificate to be validated, the voluntary signer must provide the results of the DNA test to Vital Records. This will insure that the actual biological father is listed on the birth certificate of the child.
