Lobby group wants free paternity tests

"Devastated" men are battling to prove they are not the biological fathers of children they are forced to support, says a group seeking changes to the child support system.

James Nicolle, a spokesman for the group Parents for Children, said his organisation was dealing with four other men in the same situation as a Christchurch man who has just won a 21-year battle to be repaid child support payments for another man's child.

Mr Nicolle said the Inland Revenue Department would not accept the results of a paternity test unless they had written approval from a child's mother.

His comments come after the Ministry of Social Development agreed to pay Gordon Dowler $10,000 after a battle that dragged on since 1984, first with Social Welfare and then with Inland Revenue after the IRD took over collecting child support payments.

Mr Dowler, 51, said he was not able to prove his case with a DNA test until 2003, when he contacted the now grown-up child and arranged the test which proved he was not the biological father.

The mother had previously blocked his attempts to get a test, he said.

The Inland Revenue Department promptly paid him the $8000 he was owed after the DNA test showed he was not the father, but the Ministry of Social Development held out until yesterday.

Mr Nicolle told NZPA the men being helped by his group were devastated and saw "no way out".

In one case he could only talk to the man's partner, because the man became so upset when he discussed the problem that he could not sleep.

Parents for Children wanted a system that provided "fair and reasonable" child support, and for changes to the laws involving the way separated parents were able to parent and support their children.

The amount taken by the IRD depended on a person's income, with one of the men he was working with at the higher end paying $1200 a month.

Mr Nicolle said children and parents had a right to know if a man was a child's father.

"If they aren't the father an awful lot of damage can be done for both sides. It's a terrible thing to have to face."

It was not just about money, with many other issues related to paternity. A person's genetic heritage had cultural and health implications, he said.

Parents for Children would like to see free DNA testing for any father who chose to have it done, without a child's mother being able to act as a "gate keeper".

- NZPA