The World's Premier Home Paternity Testing Service

Recently, paternity test kits have been promoted regionally through a pharmacy chain, which means in some states these kits are now available on pharmacy store shelves. According to the companies who are promoting these over-the-counter kits, the concept is to make the test more accessible—but convenience does come with a price. A consumer must first pay for the kit (which is available for free on many companies’ websites), and pay more for the testing later. We advise people to carefully consider their testing options in deciding whether these over-the-counter paternity tests are right for their situation.

First, it is important to remember that only a DNA paternity test that follows strict chain of custody procedures is recognized as valid in a court of law. This means that if the test is needed for legal purposes – like child support enforcement, inheritance issues, adoption procedures and others – a chain of custody or “legal” test is the best way to ensure that the test will be admitted in court. These pharmacy-store kits—like other at-home kits that can be purchased on the internet— can answer paternity questions for curiosity reasons or for peace-of-mind, but will not be recognized by a judge if the results were ever needed for legal reasons.

Second, each paternity situation is unique, and your specific circumstances should be carefully considered before choosing a test. Many at-home testing companies offer limited customer service whose personnel are trained primarily to help clients with one of the more common types of paternity tests, the trio test. In this test, three parties’ cheek swabs are taken and mailed to the lab—the mother, alleged father and child. However, if a paternity situation is more complicated than the trio case—if the alleged fathers are related or if the alleged father is deceased—extended analysis of the DNA samples will be necessary, which requires expert laboratory and client service personnel to walk you through the specifics of your unique case.

Finally, while purchasing a paternity test at a pharmacy may be convenient, many of Beta Paternity’s clients say they prefer the privacy, confidentiality and discretion that ordering a paternity testing kit online provides—compared to standing in line at a drug store where your paternity kit is “rung up” in plain sight. Our clients can talk confidentially to a caring case manager without leaving the comfort and privacy of home, and Beta Paternity offers its clients stellar customer service throughout the entire testing process.

For more information, click here to read more about Beta Paternity’s services.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 10th, 2008 at 8:26 pm and is filed under Home Paternity Tests. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.