Letters - Losing Fatherhood - NYTimes.com

Read the follow-up letters to the NY Times Magazine article on DNA testing, Losing Fatherhood. You'll find a few different perspectives, but most acknowledge that it is protecting the child from the devastating loss of a relationship with the father they know that should be our first concern.

Letters - Losing Fatherhood - NYTimes.com: "Preserving the nonbiological father’s and, more important, the child’s right to their relationship would shield the child from the catastrophic effects of a father’s desertion that often is motivated, in large part, by dollars and cents. Moreover, permitting the mother to retain an unfair bargaining chip against the father — threatening to sever the relationship unless the father continues to pay support — empowers the perpetrator of the fraud over the victim a second time.

STEVEN P. FORBES

Huntington, N.Y."

What are your thoughts?

How DNA Testing Is Changing Fatherhood - NYTimes.com

The NY Times magazine recently published a long, thoughtful article on the complexities that DNA testing has introduced into the issues of fatherhood, child support, and the child's best interests.

How does the NYS court system regard these issues? And, as a professional in the field of human services, what do you think about the conflicts this article describes? Are those the same feelings you have as a father?

How DNA Testing Is Changing Fatherhood - NYTimes.com: "In an age of DNA, when biological relationships can be identified with certainty, it can seem absurd to hew so closely to a centuries-old idea of paternity. And yet basing paternity decisions solely on genetics places the nonbiological father’s welfare above the child’s. Phil Reilly, a lawyer who is also a clinical geneticist, has been wrestling with the policy implications of DNA testing for years, and even he is stumped about how society should manage the problem that men like Mike face. “We’re at a point in our society where the DNA molecule is ascendant, and it’s very much in the public’s consciousness that this is a powerful way to identify relationships,” Reilly says. “Yet at the same time, more people than ever are adopting children, showing that parents can very much love a child who is not their own. The difference here for many men is the combination of hurt and rage over the deceit, the fact that they’re twice beaten. I can see both sides of this argument. As a nation, we’re still in search of what the most ethical policy should be. Every solution is imperfect.”"

Read the whole article -- if you work in the fatherhood field it's well worth the time. Tell us what you think.