A court has heard how a child’s grandad may actually be their biological father, after a man created a ‘welfare minefield’ by mixing his sperm with his father’s.
Barnsley Council brought a legal bid over the five-year-old child’s parentage after being informed about the circumstances of the conception, asking the High Court in Sheffield to order DNA tests to be carried out.
However, a judgement earlier today saw Mr Justice Poole dismiss the bid, saying that the child’s father would not be forced to take a paternity test.
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While Poole accepted that there was a ‘strong chance’ the real father of the child – known only as D – could be the person believed to be the granddad (RS), he determined that the council had ‘no stake in the outcome’.
At a hearing last month, the court heard how the man (PQ) and his then-partner (JK) both agreed to mix his sperm with his father’s, having been unable to afford IVF treatment after experiencing fertility struggles. IVF treatments can cost up to £5800 in the UK, depending on whether or not a surrogate is needed. Other costs include freezing, storage, embryo transfers and insemination.
The sperm was then injected into the woman, who became pregnant.
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In his ruling, Poole said D ‘is a unique child who would not exist but for the unusual arrangements made for his conception’, adding: “But those arrangements have also created the potential for him to suffer emotional harm were he to learn of them.”
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The arrangement, he said, was ‘always intended’ to be kept a secret.
Poole said the family had ‘created a welfare minefield’, continuing: "I cannot believe that JK, PQ and RS properly thought through the ramifications of their scheme for JK to become pregnant, otherwise it is unlikely that they would have embarked upon it."
The judge said the council does not have a ‘personal interest’ in the boy’s biological parentage, concluding that the family may want to undergo their own paternity test in the future but that it was a ‘matter for them’.
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"It must be acknowledged that the circumstances of D's conception cannot now be undone,” Poole said.
"Without testing, his biological paternity remains uncertain but there is a strong chance, to say the least, that the person he thinks is his grandfather is his biological father, and that the person he thinks is his father is his biological half-brother."
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