DNA Testing

Starting May 1, 2006, NMRC began doing DNA testing through Orchid Cellmark.  Testing can be done on a father, mother, and child, as a combination, or on a father or mother and child only.  We also do DNA testing for other family members.  The test consists of a couple of swabs taken from the inside of the cheeks.  Other types of testing may be available.

The COURT READY test:  $585.00, plus GST*.  

The CURIOSITY test: $415.00, plus GST*.

For the price of other types of DNA testing please contact us.

*If your doctor will sign the form that the test is medically required, the GST is not charged.

Payment is required at time of testing by cheque or money order made

to the order of Orchid Cellmark.

Please read their brochure for more details of how the program works.

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If you are interested in a paternity test please contact Jonathon at NMRC for details.

   DNA TESTING AT NMRC - BY JONATHON VAN DER GOES  

Over the past several years of being with the Nanaimo Men’s Resource Centre,   I have had the pleasure of administering about twenty DNA tests. These are always challenging because people are never sure what the results of the test will be.

Traditionally, the general public views DNA testing as a way for a man to prove he is not the biological dad, in an effort to get out of paying child support. This has never been the case with any of our DNA Testing clients so far.

Men come in and get DNA testing for a variety of reasons. Some fathers desperately want a child to be biologically theirs, but they know that there is a serious possibility the child is not, and they need confirmation for peace of mind. Others want a child to be theirs, because they are going through a separation, and want the child to have connection with their “real” dad, if there is one. Everybody who has come in, asking for DNA testing, has wanted the child to be theirs, without exception.

My most heartbreaking experience was with a granddad, who had been taking care of a “grandchild” and wanted to make the situation permanent. The son was not in the picture, and the child’s maternal family was questioning the bloodlines. The “grandfather” had been taking care of the child for years, and the grandchild wanted to be with the grandfather. Unfortunately when the test came in showing that there was no biological relationship, the courts took this into consideration in deciding where the child went.

More recently I did a DNA test for a father going through separation. The father had a deeply driven “need to know” whether the child was biologically his. During the process, the father struggled with depression and anxiety, and contacted the centre on an almost daily basis, waiting for the results to come in. When the results finally arrived (It takes between a week and ten days for them to come back) the look of joy on the man’s face was palpable, and the pleasure I felt in interpreting the results for him was wonderful. “Congratulations, you are a dad” is my usual line in such circumstances. Seeing him feeling so good about himself reminded me of how I felt when I received the news when my children were born, over two decades ago.

Of course, in this work, there are often thorny issues, such as the possibility a dad may be asked by the courts to pay child support for children that they never have had relationship with, and are not biologically theirs. Some States in the USA are having huge legal struggles with these issues. There are laws on the books that require a judge to find the husband of a woman, who has a child biologically by another man, responsible for child support.  A judge does not have the legal authority to refuse to make the order unless, sometime in the future, there is a change in the legislation.

If you want to find out more about DNA and the Men’s Resource Centre, come on in and ask or email me at jonathon@nanaimomen.com or call the centre at 250-716-1551.

Jonathon van der Goes has an MA in Counselling Psychology and is the Referral & Resource & Mediation Services Program Coordinator at the Nanaimo Men’s Resource Centre.