By Mike Buchanan: In our [J4MB] general election manifesto we explored two forms of paternity fraud (pp 52-54):
– leading a man to believe he’s the biological father of a child, when he’s not. A crime under the Fraud Act (2006) for which the state never prosecutes the woman concerned. Men have to take out civil actions – not many could afford to do so – and cannot get financial compensation for the expense they incurred whilst unwittingly supporting children who were not theirs. At the most they might get compensation for emotional suffering, invariably under £20,000, usually under £10,000
– frustrating a contraceptive method in order to become pregnant – most commonly, a woman ‘forgetting’ to take the daily contraceptive pill
Our manifesto proposals in this area:
1. The government should introduce compulsory paternity testing for all new-born babies, and both parents should be informed of the result of the tests (verbally and in writing) within a week of the babies’ births. If a man is not the biological father of a baby, he should be informed of the fact in the course of a face-to-face meeting with a health professional, and sign a document confirming he’s been made aware of his non-paternity of the child in question.
2. The state should only require a man to have financial responsibility for a child if he’s previously signed a legal declaration that he’s willing to support a child who results from the sexual relationship in question, and a paternity test has proven him to be the child’s biological father.
– leading a man to believe he’s the biological father of a child, when he’s not. A crime under the Fraud Act (2006) for which the state never prosecutes the woman concerned. Men have to take out civil actions – not many could afford to do so – and cannot get financial compensation for the expense they incurred whilst unwittingly supporting children who were not theirs. At the most they might get compensation for emotional suffering, invariably under £20,000, usually under £10,000
– frustrating a contraceptive method in order to become pregnant – most commonly, a woman ‘forgetting’ to take the daily contraceptive pill
Our manifesto proposals in this area:
1. The government should introduce compulsory paternity testing for all new-born babies, and both parents should be informed of the result of the tests (verbally and in writing) within a week of the babies’ births. If a man is not the biological father of a baby, he should be informed of the fact in the course of a face-to-face meeting with a health professional, and sign a document confirming he’s been made aware of his non-paternity of the child in question.
2. The state should only require a man to have financial responsibility for a child if he’s previously signed a legal declaration that he’s willing to support a child who results from the sexual relationship in question, and a paternity test has proven him to be the child’s biological father.






