2 weeks ago
2
Therapist Wendell De Leon, left, president of the Single Father's Association of TT Rhondall Feeles, second from left, Pastor Clive Dottin, second from right, and Samuel Sankar, at a media conference on November 3 at Computer Tech and Services in Couva.
- Photos by Innis FrancisA recent Fathers' Association of TT (TFATT) survey found that almost one-third of paternity tests run in the last five years at a judiciary-approved laboratory revealed the purported father was not that of the child.
This has led the organisation to renew its call for DNA tests to be mandatory before the courts issue maintenance orders. The figures were revealed at a TFATT media conference at Computer Tech and Services, Couva, on November 3.
The figures showed that of the 440 tests run by the lab between January 2020 and September 2025, 143 (32.5 per cent) indicated the child was not the father's. Of these tests, 82 were done as part of legal proceedings, of which 24 (29.27 per cent) showed the child was not the father's. The remaining 358 tests were performed voluntarily by fathers, of whom 119 (33.24 per cent) discovered the child was not theirs.
The statistics from the lab also showed that of the 13 tests performed in 2020 for legal proceedings, eight (61.5 per cent) returned a negative paternity result. TFATT president Rhondall Feeles noted the statistics were concerning, as there were 6,838 child maintenance applications made to the Family Court from 2016 to 2021.
"Can you imagine with a ratio of one in every three, how rampant this can be?"
He shared the report from the laboratory with reporters but noted the organisation did not want to be named.
He highlighted several instances where men ended up in legal trouble over maintenance for children who were not biologically theirs. For instance, the case of Marlon Thompson, who was on the hook for $35,000 in maintenance for a child, which a DNA test proved was not his biological son.
"We were able to have the maintenance removed, and the magisterial level, the magistrate had no power at all to quash the warrant. Though he no longer had a maintenance to pay, he still had a warrant and faced imprisonment for a child that was not biologically his."
President of the Single Father's Association of TT Rhondall Feeles at a media conference on November 3 at Computer Tech and Services in Couva.
He said a stay was eventually granted by a High Court Judge, and the matter was quashed about two years later.
Feeles also cited a 2019 case where a 31-year-old man demanded a paternity test after paying alimony for his two children. At the hearing in the Chaguanas Magistrate's Court for the maintenance and custody case brought by his wife, the man learnt that the two children were not biologically his. When asked by the magistrate about the money he had paid, the man said he was more affected by the emotional toll of learning the daughters weren't his. The magistrate dismissed the wife's application for maintenance and custody.
Feeles said the majority of men don't care about the maintenance.
"What they care is that the daughter they held, the son they held, the relationship they held, the one they held, the trust they had in the other party is no longer there."
Behavioural therapist Wendell De Leon said, based on his experience, it is detrimental to a man's mental health to find out a child does not belong to him.
"One of the critical ingredients of suicide is hopelessness. When you see a big man, not just hopeless but powerless, whereby he would have spent the better part of 15, 16 years raising a child, caring for a child, being there for the birth process, being involved in the child's life, providing willingly, only to find out this child is not yours."
Suicide rates are significantly higher among men than women. According to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, men accounted for 80 per cent of suicides in 2023.
With paternity tests becoming more affordable and more easily accessible, De Leon said it is likely there would be more cases of men realising they are not the biological father of their children. Depending on the laboratory, these tests can be done for as little as $1,500.
Feeles said the association recently wrote to Attorney General John Jeremie and then Chief Justice Ivor Archie on the matter.
A letter dated October 7 to the Attorney General, the association asked for legislation for mandatory paternity testing before issuing child maintenance orders; criminalising a woman's intentional misleading of a man to believe a child is his, labelling it paternity fraud; and to allow in cases of proven paternity fraud allow compensation for the father, counselling for the father and children, and referring the matter to the police for investigation.
While Feeles said Jeremie expressed interest in the matter, he knows it would take some time for the legislation to be enacted. As such, he asked the Chief Justice in an October 14 letter to issue a proactive direction to require DNA tests for all existing and future maintenance matters and in cases where a man was intentionally lied to about the child being his, allow compensation to him, counselling for him and the children, and to refer the matter to the police for investigation.
An October 17 letter from the Chief Justice Chambers said the matter was receiving consideration. He called on newly appointed Chief Justice Ronnie Boodoosingh to continue work on the matter.
English (US) ·