What are my options for secretly determining paternity?
March 10, 2012 7:03 AM Subscribe
What are my options for secretly determining paternity? It's come to my attention, thanks to some casual conversation about blood types, that my blood type is possibly incompatible with my parents'. This is not something I want either parent to know I know, until I'm damn sure.
Unfortunately, I don't know if there's been any telephone-game mishaps on the way, and outright asking my parents their blood types is difficult in casual conversation. If it comes down to it, I'm okay with being slightly suspicious, but I'd much rather my parents not be able to connect the dots about my investigation. What options do I have?
Unfortunately, I don't know if there's been any telephone-game mishaps on the way, and outright asking my parents their blood types is difficult in casual conversation. If it comes down to it, I'm okay with being slightly suspicious, but I'd much rather my parents not be able to connect the dots about my investigation. What options do I have?
If this has to do with blood types and +/-, my parents were extremely horrified to learn that my twin and I share their blood type but are both negative, whereas theirs are positive (I possible have this reversed.) It's a recessive trait. We actually talk about blood types a lot because we all donate blood, so if they do that, you might be able to off-handedly find out that way. Blood type is also printed on the Red Cross donor cards.
I suppose if you were really worried you could send off for a paternity test using hair or another small, easily findable thing. You could also speak with your doctor about the possible permutations that could produce your own blood type.
posted by jetlagaddict at 7:21 AM on March 10, 2012
I suppose if you were really worried you could send off for a paternity test using hair or another small, easily findable thing. You could also speak with your doctor about the possible permutations that could produce your own blood type.
posted by jetlagaddict at 7:21 AM on March 10, 2012
Here in Colorado, DNA Paternity tests are sold at Walgreen's.
posted by pickypicky at 7:22 AM on March 10, 2012
posted by pickypicky at 7:22 AM on March 10, 2012
General ABO blood type -- Type A, Type B, Type AB, and type O -- is insufficient to prove paternity. It can occasionally DISprove paternity, but cannot prove it. If you find out your parents' ABO blood type, it would not necessarily answer your question. Paternity testing is done via DNA analysis, and considered over 99.9% accurate. I'm pretty sure you need blood samples from your parents and yourself to have this done.
Ummm, are your suspicions only about your father, or your mother as well? Do you have reason to believe your mother was not pregnant with you?
An entire other issue is, what effect would striving to find this out have on your relationship with your parents? Suppose, for example, your mother needed to use a sperm donor for some reason (maybe your father had a low sperm count and they really, really wanted a child). Would you be horrified by such a notion? would you feel differently towards your father on account of this?
posted by RRgal at 7:28 AM on March 10, 2012 [5 favorites]
Ummm, are your suspicions only about your father, or your mother as well? Do you have reason to believe your mother was not pregnant with you?
An entire other issue is, what effect would striving to find this out have on your relationship with your parents? Suppose, for example, your mother needed to use a sperm donor for some reason (maybe your father had a low sperm count and they really, really wanted a child). Would you be horrified by such a notion? would you feel differently towards your father on account of this?
posted by RRgal at 7:28 AM on March 10, 2012 [5 favorites]
You might develop a sudden interest in Japanese blood type culture, and that way you'd be asking everybody about they blood types, including your parents.
There exists a common, popular belief in Japan, Korea, and other East Asian countries that a person's ABO blood type or ketsueki-gata (血液型?) is predictive of his or her personality, temperament, and compatibility with others, similar to how astrological signs are used in other countries throughout the world, although blood type plays a much more prominent role in Japanese and the societies of other East Asian countries than astrology does in other countries' societies.
posted by TheGoodBlood at 8:08 AM on March 10, 2012 [5 favorites]
There exists a common, popular belief in Japan, Korea, and other East Asian countries that a person's ABO blood type or ketsueki-gata (血液型?) is predictive of his or her personality, temperament, and compatibility with others, similar to how astrological signs are used in other countries throughout the world, although blood type plays a much more prominent role in Japanese and the societies of other East Asian countries than astrology does in other countries' societies.
posted by TheGoodBlood at 8:08 AM on March 10, 2012 [5 favorites]
What exactly are your blood types? If your parents are A and B and you're O, well, then they could be genotypes AO and BO and you got the recessive gene from each. If they're, say, A and O and you're AB, that's a bit harder to explain.
posted by Flannery Culp at 9:21 AM on March 10, 2012
posted by Flannery Culp at 9:21 AM on March 10, 2012
Spending a couple of hundred dollars at 23andme for genetic testing would get you not only your blood type, but a host of other information that would be of value to you in understanding your genetic heritage, and clarifying whether or not you're the biological child of your parents.
posted by killdevil at 9:40 AM on March 10, 2012
posted by killdevil at 9:40 AM on March 10, 2012
DNA analysis, and considered over 99.9% accurate. I'm pretty sure you need blood samples from your parents and yourself to have this done.--RRgal
You don't need blood samples for a paternity DNA test. I know someone who needed to find out if her estranged father was really her father, and used a service similar to the one available at Walgreens. A q-tip wipe inside the cheek was all that was required to get the DNA material for the analysis. A quick search shows that there are also maternity tests.
Though convincing your parents to do this without arising suspicions might be a challenge.
posted by eye of newt at 10:03 AM on March 10, 2012
You don't need blood samples for a paternity DNA test. I know someone who needed to find out if her estranged father was really her father, and used a service similar to the one available at Walgreens. A q-tip wipe inside the cheek was all that was required to get the DNA material for the analysis. A quick search shows that there are also maternity tests.
Though convincing your parents to do this without arising suspicions might be a challenge.
posted by eye of newt at 10:03 AM on March 10, 2012
Blood groups (like eye colours) are a lot more complicated than they seem. This is a neat website for answering genetics questions, and has a few questions on Rhesus and ABO groups. Your parents may really be your parents!
posted by superfish at 11:00 AM on March 10, 2012 [3 favorites]
posted by superfish at 11:00 AM on March 10, 2012 [3 favorites]
If you are in the US, some states require the permission of the person who owns the DNA. In other words, you must have your parent's permission before you send off their DNA for testing. Specifically, Alaska, Colorado, Florida, and Georgia require this (see this pdf); laws for all 50 states is in this pdf.
posted by Houstonian at 12:01 PM on March 10, 2012
posted by Houstonian at 12:01 PM on March 10, 2012
daisy lowe had a common misconception about blood type inheritance and she approached her mom with this which led to her mom admitting that gavin rossdale was really her father. the funny part about all this? she was wrong about the blood type thing but right about the paternity thing.
posted by nadawi at 2:46 PM on March 10, 2012 [1 favorite]
posted by nadawi at 2:46 PM on March 10, 2012 [1 favorite]
If you want to be sneaky about it, you could try to convince them to put emergency information in their phones or their wallets, including next of kin, any ongoing medical issues, and blood types. You could just say you'd be reading about how everyone should do that in case of accident or emergency. Then you can snoop in their phones/wallets some time, should you not be present when they actually do it.
But I think you'd probably get your answer more easily with a direct approach. If you outright ask them, "Hey, Dad, what's your blood type?", he's more likely to react weirdly if he has something to hide. If not, I would have thought he is very unlikely to jump to the conclusion that you have suspicions about your paternity. That would be a strange leap to make if you haven't already been worrying about it.
posted by lollusc at 7:27 PM on March 10, 2012
But I think you'd probably get your answer more easily with a direct approach. If you outright ask them, "Hey, Dad, what's your blood type?", he's more likely to react weirdly if he has something to hide. If not, I would have thought he is very unlikely to jump to the conclusion that you have suspicions about your paternity. That would be a strange leap to make if you haven't already been worrying about it.
posted by lollusc at 7:27 PM on March 10, 2012
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posted by SuperSquirrel at 7:10 AM on March 10, 2012