Paternity fraud, also known as misattributed paternity, paternal discrepancy, or “jacket”, is when a man is incorrectly identified to be the biological father of a child. The underlying assumption of paternity fraud is that the mother deliberately misidentified the biological father.

Jacket is related to the historical understanding of adultery; however, it is now identified with other forms of relationships, whether visiting, common-law cohabitation or fornication.

While incidents of paternity fraud are often occasion of jokes, it is no laughing matter. It is now just two years that a cousin of mine was officially declared father of a 28-year-old woman, whose mother had intentionally assigned paternity to her husband. The revelation of the real father was due to a family dispute, whereby another relative who knew of the secret spilled the beans. The distraught young lady flew from the United States to meet with her alleged father and, having done a DNA test, confirmed the truth of the relationship.

The paternity fraud committed by the mother was not detected by US immigration due to the fact that it was the mother who had filed for her children. However, there are thousands of cases in which Jamaican fathers in the diaspora, having filed petitions to have their children join them in the US, received the shocking news of not being the biological father.

During this period of 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence (November 25 to December 10), when we highlight violence against women and girls/children, it is important to include paternity fraud as an emotional abuse of men that can lead to further acts of violence against women and children.

Paternity fraud is a widespread problem in Jamaica, and one may speculate that it could be related to the ethnicity of the perpetrator, since the African country of Nigeria is said to be the world’s nation with the highest numbers of paternity fraud. While such fraud is present in all ethnicities, one may wonder if most Jamaican women who give jackets are of Nigerian descent.

Dr Herbert Gayle, leading anthropologist at The University of the West Indies, revealed in a 2016 study that some 25 per cent of Jamaican men are unknowingly raising children who are not biologically theirs. While a 2019 report by Polygenics Consulting, a DNA testing company, indicated that of all the paternity tests that the company has conducted since 2015, when it became operational, 70 per cent were not the father (CNW Network, 1 November 2019).

Recently, a victim of paternity fraud, not only had his marriage end in divorce, but upon further DNA testing, discovered that the “love child” was not biologically his. He was instructed by the courts to seek compensation from the State, through which he was paying child maintenance.

Here, in Jamaica, we have seen and celebrated the educational advancement of our women to enable them to enjoy a better standard of living. However, in many relationships the scourge of paternity fraud overshadows these achievements. Conversely, the emotional impact on the father not only result in devastating effects on the child, and child maintenance fraud, but results in many instances of violence against women.

Due to embarrassment, not many Jamaican men seek redress in the local courts, and not many are aware that paternity fraud remains a serious matter in court. A woman who knowingly names the wrong man as her child’s father on the birth certificate is seen as committing a breach of the Registration (Births and Deaths) Act. To reduce the high percentages of paternity fraud, it is time to increased the fine from $250,000 to $1,000,000 and to increase imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months to six months if found guilty.

Dudley C McLean II writes from Mandeville, Manchester. Send comments to the Jamaica Observer or dm15094@gmail.com.