Paternity Test For Dad’s Of Newly Born At Victoria Jubilee Hospital

July 5, 2022 | By Hopeton O’Connor-Dennie |

Honey B, the new diva on the block at Nationwide News Network (NNN) dropped a bombshell when she announced on the E-zone Saturday July 2, 2022, with DJ Calico that the Victoria Jubilee Hospital, the largest birthing facility in the English speaking Caribbean where an estimated 6000 births occur annually has announced, based on what Honey B has stated that:

“Before a dad can hold his possibly newly born baby a DNA test has to be done”

This is a revolutionary new idea that could make a difference in the way couples relate intimately with each other.

Jacket

In Jamaica to give the wrong father a child that was fathered by another (father) is referred to as a “Jacket.”

Statistics On Fraud

In the United States of America (USA) this activity is referred as “Paternity Fraud”.  Statistics obtained state that in the USA this accounts  for 10 percent of all births based on record as revealed in  surveys on hand.

US Embassy 

The United States Embassy in Jamaica has stated based on reports that they have discovered empirically that 30 percent of DNA test that they have access to … done in Jamaica as part of application requirements for permanent residence to the USA has proven to be 30 percent. This is quite a high percentage.

Paternity Fraud

So paternity Fraud or Jacket is real and alive not only internationally, but also in Jamaica.  Can you image the impact this has had in families and on the innocent victims the children?  They are caught up in this web of deception for which they have no control. The sins of their parents have now come to haunt them … Children of these intimate relationships could be blighted.  Can you image a child who would want to join a parent overseas is prevented from doing so after learning that his or her father is not the real biological parent.

Anecdotal Account

We have all heard of anecdotal accounts of these events, but hard evidence is never easy to come by.  It is a hush hush issue and usually a closely guarded held secret in families.  It is not a subject folks are ready to admit to. We hear whispers, but nothing that can be taken to a court of law.

Father Complaining

A father who felt that he was victim of a paternity fraud was complaining on a talk show recently that he went away on seasonal farm labour employment, and on his return his female partner was pregnant.  He was confused and did not want to go to the trouble of DNA tests to prove his suspicion.  He told the programme host that he did not know what to do.  The couple were married.  Under our laws any child that is conceived in a marriage is automatically deemed to be born in wedlock.  The law when written did not envisage DNA test to prove paternity.  DNA is a rather modern procedure.

Commentary

The Victoria Jubilee Hospital (VJH) has set itself up as a morality police.  Good for them.  This can also be seen as intrusion into people’s intimate relationships.  This is trying to stop a serious paternity fraud game? You be the judge.

Other statistics have stated that children who are from fatherless homes are 30 percent more likely to become dropouts from school and to be involved in teenage pregnancies. Finally these children are more prone to have run ins with law enforcement.

Will this new requirement by the VJH maternity hospital face a legal challenge? How would a court rule is left to be seen. What impact will this have on the moral behaviour of intimate relationships. Only time will tell.