Paternity Statistics from

The Men’s Health Network

Who is daddy and who is not 

February 25, 2000

Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) data indicate that approximately 31 percent of men who request a paternity test during the IV-D agency child support establishment process are excluded as the father of the child.

In at least one jurisdiction, unwed fathers were given this information and encouraged to ask for a DNA test before agreeing to paternity.  In that jurisdiction, the "failure" or "success" rate (depending on which side of the issue you are on) was 50 percent.

For those of you who believe this this is strictly an unwed issue, studies indicate that many children from intact families face the same paternity dilemma -- with 14% to 20+% (depending on the study) of children from intact homes not being "daddy's" kids.   Data from those studies are in the Men’s Health Network’s Washington, DC offices.

For more information on this issue, contact:

Men’s Health Network  

202-543-MHN-1       
http://www.MensHealthNetwork.org/