Paternity vs Maternity Testing
Maternity and paternity testing involves collecting and testing the DNA of a small sample of tissue or bodily fluid from a child and the alleged mother or father. Mostly, in both maternity and paternity testing, cells and blood from the inside of the cheek are sampled.
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Paternity vs Maternity
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Determining paternity means finding out whether a man is the biological father of a child or not. Paternity testing is required in various cases such as adoption, custody, estate purposes, child support, immigration, and various other legal reasons.
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Whereas, determining maternity means finding out whether a woman is the biological mother of a child or not. It is evident in most situations who the mother is. But, in situations like immigration, adoption, and other legal cases, maternity testing might be required.
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Paternity tests are more common than maternity tests, but situations may occur where the biological mother of the child is unclear. For instance, when an adopted child is wanting to unite with his/her biological mother or in cases like possible hospital mix-ups and IVF (in vitro fertilization) – where the laboratory might have transferred an unrelated embryo inside the mother’s uterus.
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While testing the biological mother in the paternity test might turn out to be beneficial, testing the biological father in a maternity test is typically not suggested or performed because it may not produce stronger results.
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Maternity and Paternity Testing for Adult or Child
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The DNA test for both is carried out by collecting cheek (buccal) cells from the inside of a person’s mouth using a buccal swab. The swabs are either plastic or wooden sticks with cotton wrapped on the tip. The collector uses the swab to rub the inside of the cheek and collect a maximum number of buccal cells, which are later submitted to the laboratory for testing. Samples of the child and the alleged mother or father are needed.
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All paternity testing techniques are applied to maternity testing and vice versa.
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