Your April 15 article, "DNA Shakes Up Child Support Laws," proves that men are often trapped into parental roles when they have no desire to be parents. Fathers have minimal legal rights and huge legal financial responsibilities.
If sociologists were really concerned about the importance of the role of fathers, they wouldn't only look at how much money a father can provide but would realize that a father should be more than a weekend visitor. A father paying child support should have the right to see that his support payments are going toward the children he's supporting, and he should have equal input into the decisions being made concerning his children. To force a man to pay support payments to a child he does not claim as his is an outrage.
Joseph Davis
Covina
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Two possible solutions to keep these situations from occurring in the future: 1) Mandate DNA testing for newborn babies and their parents. Some people might find this too Big Brother-ish, so an alternative is: 2) Require DNA testing in all child support court cases. In addition, require DNA testing of any man paying child support, if paternity has not been previously established, or have the man waive his right to the testing.
