The festive season is Child Welfare’s busiest time, they see an increase in all forms of child abuse.
Here are some tips to safe guard your children durning these holidays;
1. Communicate: Discuss with your children the dangers that exist, make sure they understand the difference between good and bad touching and encourage them to always speak openly with you.
2. A watchful eye: Ensure your child is within sight at al times or in the care of a responsible adult approved by you
3. Be aware: Teach your children to avoid any unfamiliar person they think seems suspicious and to immediately alert you or another trusted adult about them.
4. Safety in numbers: Advise older children to socialize in groups. Not to go on dates alone and with someone they don’t know well.
5. Assert yourself: Don’t focus only on stranger danger – abuse is often committed by someone known to the child. Encourage your children to stand up for themselves and speak out if they ever feel uncomfortable.
6. Know what to do: Find out in advance what action to take if your child or anyone you know encounters abuse of any kind.
7. Be responsible: Especially over the festive, adults must never drink and drive, particularly with children in the car. Children must always wear seat belts and sit in the back of the car.
8. Safety first: Finally, while the holidays are about having fun, take care when allowing children near water – ensure that arm bands or life jackets are available for younger children and that adults are always present.
This festive season, the best gift you can give is your donation to help fight child abuse.
Help the children of South Africa by donating to CWSA
To donate R 5.00 SMS the word “child” to 36560
To donate R 10.00 SMS the word “4child” to 38585
To donate R 30.00 SMS the word “2child” to 42220
CWSA: www.childwelfaresa.org.za email: info@childwelfaresa.org.za
Childline: 08000 55 555
Enjoy the festive with your kids,
My kindest words,
10 Strangest Celebrity Paternity Cases
A little light hearted post. Many thanks to Christine Seivers for sharing.
10 Strangest Celebrity Paternity Cases
Link will redirect to post. http://www.medicalbillingandcoding.org/blog/10-strangest-celebrity-paternity-cases/
My kindest words
Nevin.
Unparentals
I’m must first acknowledge that I’m not a parent, and yes “unparentals” is not a word!
But there isn’t a socially acceptable word that I could use to title this blog, to justify my utter disgust and disappointment in irresponsible parenting.
Parenting cannot be easy, I know my parents have four kids, three of which are boys. And to complicate matters us boys have only a two year age difference between us. We did give our parents a vision as to what the path to hell might be like. I recall on on shopping expedition, yes we had expeditions. My youngest brother 6 or 7 at the time lost himself in central Durban for what must have been hours. This is just what my parents had to put up with, however they succeeded in bringing up in my opinion 3 fine gentleman, just cause they have not disowned us.
This is where this blog turns, my parents are parentals. The following individuals are not, they are unparentals and should have their “parent license” revoked.
I was called into Durban Child Welfare recently. Individuals had come forward to claim an abandoned baby. The exemplary work by the social worker prior to my visit had made my task a lot easier. When individuals make claims of a biological relationship to a child, we conduct a relationship test, either paternity, maternity, grandparentage, uncle/aunt DNA analysis. This is the evidence that the child in question does belong biologically to the individuals/family making the claim.
Swab samples were collected from the toddler, mother and father. We analyzed the samples and the result was an expected mismatch for both paternity and maternity.
Why expected? The two individuals have a story. And here goes.. The mother after giving birth to her child alleges she had given ther newborn to an uncontactable friend to take to home affairs to have the baby registered. After days of not seeing the child or the friend the mother decided to contact Child Welfare and claim an abandoned child as theirs.
Off course the results show that they are not the parents of the child tested. In a way, it is justice for the child. In my opinion, these unparentals should not have children. Who hands over their toddler to an uncontactable friend?
I’m quiet sure there is more to this story than I have outlined above.
My “kindest” words,
Nevin
Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing
Earlier this month we launched an African continent first non-invasive prenatal paternity test. I’m pleased to disclose our first non-invasive test went off flawless.
We were contacted by the patient wanted to to a prenatal test. She was aware of the risks involved in doing an invasive prenatal test, but was also anxious with regards to time constraints. At the time she was 11 weeks pregnant. We consulted her about the process, which entailed collecting blood samples from her and the alleged father at 12 weeks of pregnancy. The samples were collected by an appointed nurse using our blood tubes (the tubes have a special preservative). We arranged for blood samples to be collected and delivered to our offices.
Samples were analysed and within 2 weeks we were able to disclose results to her. At this stage the patient was at 14 weeks of pregnancy.
The non-invasive prenatal test is not available via our website, please contact us at 0861DNATES / 0315664355 or info@dnatest.co.za for more information.
Please do not hesitate to contact me should you have any questions.
My kindest words,
Nevin. 
Foetus’s DNA may nab rapist
On Wednesday morning a little 12-year-old who was brutally raped in her home will have an abortion. The foetus will be used to gather DNA evidence vital to proving who her rapist is. The accused has appeared in court for allegedly raping his young neighbour, who cannot be named because she is a minor. During his bail hearing last month, the Mitchell’s Plain Magistrates’ Court heard that the 12-year-old had in fact been raped and impregnated during the sex attack.It was then also placed on the court record that the girl would be going for an abortion on October 12. And while the alleged attacker’s family feel great pity for the ordeal the little girl has been through, they refuse to believe that he would commit a violent sex crime against anyone, and definitely not a child.
“If they told me that he was being arrested for drugs or for stealing, I would believe it,” says his mom. “But rape, not at all. He would never rape anyone.” The shocked mother admits her son has spent time in the little victim’s home.“Yes, he did stay there in that house for two weeks a while back because his wife put him out because of drugs,” she explains.“And we wouldn’t let him stay here either so he went to stay there.“But he told me that he didn’t do it.“He said that he shared a bed with her brother and didn’t go near her.”
The girl and her family have since fled their home in Eastridge. His mother says she knows the little girl – who claims the accused raped her – very well. “I actually feel very sorry for that child,” says the suspect’s mother. “She lives in a tikhuis (drug den) and there are so many men going in and out of that house all the time. “All the neighbours are gatvol (fed up) of what happens at the house. “That mother doesn’t deserve her children. Every night those children ask the neighbours for food.”
The accused’s mother says the girl’s mother also uses her to run errands for her late at night.
“Sometimes we see the girl standing on the field near her house as late as 11pm at night because she is waiting for a man to bring her money for her mommy,” she says. “Now she has accused my son of raping her… She is ruining people’s lives. “I would love to know who the real father of that child’s baby is. “She is only 12 years old and has to go through this. She is still a child and she is she is going to have an abortion.”
The suspects’ wife says she was devastated when she heard her hubby was arrested on a rape charge.
“We’ve been married a year and three months and it makes me feel so sad and hurt that someone can say something like that about my husband,” says the suspect’s wife as she cuddles the couple’s infant son. His wife says the accused was arrested on Thursday September 23 and he appeared in the Mitchell’s Plain Magistrates’ Court on September 26.
His bail was set at R500 and was told to find an alternative address as he may not enter the Eastridge area.
“This whole thing has ripped us apart. I believe my husband is innocent but I can’t see him because part of his bail conditions is that he stays in Athlone,” she says. She says she now fears that if the child’s baby is aborted, they will lose vital evidence that could vindicate her husband. But a reliable source says that if the accused did rape the girl, investigators will be able to prove it with the foetus’s DNA. “Even if she has an abortion, the surgeon will take samples of the foetus’s blood and it will be compared to the accused,” says the source.
Source: IOL.co.za available: http://www.iol.co.za/news/crime-courts/foetus-s-dna-may-nab-rapist-1.1154712
Published: 11 October 2011
* This article was published on p4 and p5 of the Daily Voice
Non-Invasive Prenatal Test
DNATest in partnership US based DNA Diagnostics Center now offers an exclusive new prenatal paternity test that is non-invasive, safe, accurate and simple. The propriety technology utilized is known as Parental Support™, which has been developed by Gene Security Network.
Non-Invasive prenatal paternity testing has been available for several years, however, past technology utilized in earlier testing have proven that the results can produce inaccurate results.
The largest issue faced inhistorical technology is in the failure to distinguish past pregnancies from a current one. Why, because fetal cells can remain in the host mother for an indeterminate number of years. The new
Parental Support™ technology overcomes the dilemma of multiple pregnancies to produce accurate results.
The difference in past testing and the new procedure offered by DNATest, is due to several factors including the method employed to process the mother’s blood, the testing of 317,000 genetic markers instead of 20 and the use of SNP technology (Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms) that concentrates on fetal matter versus testing of nucleated fetal cells.
A simple blood collection from the pregnant mother anytime after the 12th week is all that is required to begin the testing. A separate collection is obtained from the alleged father. Results are available within two weeks from the time samples are received.
For further information, questions please do not hesitate to contact DNATest.
Video: http://www.dnacenter.com/paternity/prenatal-testing.html
My kindest words
Nevin.
We cannot judge…
It is difficult not to get emotionally involved with our clients. However a telephone call yesterday really got me.
A father, (lets call him John) left a message for me for me to call him very urgently. I called, introduced myself and only to be answered by a very emotional John.
John’s 15 year old daughter, (lets call her Amy) is a victim of statutory rape. The result is Amy is now 14 weeks pregnant. The suspect, a 27 year old family friend had been arrested but is now out on bail. John wants to have a prenatal test performed so that he has further evidence that the suspect in question is actually the father of Amy’s unborn child. And if the child is, John wants the baby to be aborted.
We cannot judge…. and further not being a parent myself, I cannot being to relate to the tribulation of John.
South African Law is very clear about statutory rape. Statutory rape is sex below the age of consent. If a man has sex with someone younger than sixteen years old, which is the age of consent, he can be charged with statutory rape, regardless of whether sex is concentual or not. He can automatically be prosecuted whether a charge is laid or not. Charges will sometimes be laid against the offender by a concerned adult who is worried that the child may have been coerced or manipulated into having sex, or who knows that child has been raped and are not able or willing to press charges.
So how can we at DNATest assist John. The options available to him is that the inspector/detective can subpoena the suspect to submitting a DNA sample, preferable in this case would be a blood sample. This sample is then tested either against Amy’s blood sample (for a non-invasive prenatal paternity test) or a CVS or Amnio (invasive prenatal paternity test) sample from Amy. We would analyze the sample and give John the result. The accuracy of either procedure is 99.9%.
Admittedly and understandably John finds himself in a very difficult position. I have since spoken with John and suggested individual and family counseling.
Rape, in whatever guise is rape. Our society needs a moral injection of values. We cannot sit back and allow our future citizen to be victims of abuse and as adults and guardians we must struggle and labor on the importance of values the gravity of morals.
Assistance for rape victims, family and friends of rape victims exists in SA. For help:
www.rape.co.za www.rapecrisis.org.za www.antirape.co.za www.jff.org.za
Please do not hesitate to contact me should you have any queries.
My kindest words
Nevin.
Prenatal Paternity Testing
I posted this blog almost a year ago, and however with increased inquiries about prenatal DNA paternity testing I have decided to re-post. Before you read on, there have been technological advancements and options now exist for a non-invasive prenatal DNA testing.
Please contact our offices for further information in this regard.
Clients who wish to determine paternity during pregnancy may opt for a Prenatal Paternity test, similar to normal DNA paternity test, the prenatal test analyses the baby’s DNA with that of the alleged father. The baby’s DNA is established at conception; a prenatal test gives the same conclusive results as a normal paternity test. I must make it clear that a prenatal sample collection is done at the discretion of the gynecologist. This is done because prenatal sample collection poses significant risk to both mother and baby. I recommend counseling with a medical doctor prior to prenatal test consideration.
To obtain samples from the unborn child, the gynecologist uses either two procedures depending on the stage of pregnancy.
Chorionic Villi Sampling(CVS) 10th through 13th week. Cells from the placenta, a membrane surrounding the developing fetus guided by ultra-sound, gynecologist uses a catheter through the vagina or a long, hollow, needle through the abdomen to collect cells.
Amniocentesis(Amnio) 14th through 24th week. Loose fetal cells released into amniotic fluid surrounding the developing fetus. Guided by ultra sound, the gynecologist uses a long needle through the abdomen to collect amniotic fluid. DNA Test will contact gynecologist and advise collection procedure.
On the date of the procedure, a buccal swab sample is required from the alleged father; this will be the sample against which analysis is done. DNA Test arranges for the collection of the samples directly from gynecologist offices. The cost of the analysis excludes gynecologist fees but includes analysis and reporting costs. Results are normally available within 10-15 working days.
For further information regarding prenatal test, we advise you to contact our offices.
My kindest words
Nevin
Is eye colour a clue to Paternity?
Your child’s eye color may just give you the answer you’re looking for.
According to Bruno Laeng and colleagues, from the University of Tromso, Norway, the human eye color reflects a simple, predictable and reliable genetic pattern of inheritance. Their studies1, published this week in the Springer journal Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, show that blue-eyed men find blue-eyed women more attractive than brown-eyed women. According to the researchers, it is because there could be an unconscious male adaptation for the detection of paternity, based on eye color.
The laws of genetics state that eye color is inherited as follows:
1. If both parents have blue eyes, the children will have blue eyes.
2. If both parents have brown eyes, a quarter of the children will have blue eyes, and three quarters will have brown eyes.
3. The brown eye form of the eye color gene (or allele) is dominant, whereas the blue eye allele is recessive.
It then follows that if a child born to two blue-eyed parents does not have blue eyes, then the blue-eyed father is not the biological father. It is therefore reasonable to expect that a man would be more attracted towards a woman displaying a trait that increases his paternal confidence, and the likelihood that he could uncover his partner’s sexual infidelity.
Eighty-eight male and female students were asked to rate facial attractiveness of models on a computer. The pictures were close-ups of young adult faces, unfamiliar to the participants. The eye color of each model was manipulated, so that for each model’s face two versions were shown, one with the natural eye color (blue/brown) and another with the other color (brown/blue). The participants’ own eye color was noted.
Both blue-eyed and brown-eyed women showed no difference in their preferences for male models of either eye color. Similarly, brown-eyed men showed no preference for either blue-eyed or brown-eyed female models. However, blue-eyed men rated blue-eyed female models as more attractive than brown-eyed models.
In a second study, a group of 443 young adults of both sexes and different eye colors were asked to report the eye color of their romantic partners. Blue-eyed men were the group with the largest proportion of partners of the same eye color.
According to Bruno Laeng and colleagues, “It is remarkable that blue-eyed men showed such a clear preference for women with the same eye color, given that the present experiment did not request participants to choose prospective sexual mates, but only to provide their aesthetic or attractiveness responses based on face close-up photographs.” Blue-eyed men may have unconsciously learned to value a physical trait that can facilitate recognition of own kin.
A DNA Paternity test remains the most accurate way of determining a childs paternity.
Feel free to contact me should you have any queries.
My kindest words
Nevin.
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1. Laeng B et al (2006). Why do blue-eyed men prefer women with the same eye color? (Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology, DOI 10.1007/s00265-006-0266-1)
I had a patient walk into the office yesterday accompanied with his alleged child. At first glance he seemed relaxed, not fidgety or nervous like most patients who come into our offices for a paternity test. Looking back now, I should have trusted my instinct.
He sat down in our consulting room, and due to the pre-test counseling I asked the child to sit in the waiting room, within ear shot. I proceeded to ask the relevant background questions and the more questions I asked the more nervous and edgy the patient became. He was looking over his back and moving in his chair. As this isn’t unique behavior, and as I had covered the most of the questions, I assumed he would be more comfortable if the child was in the room. The little 5 year boy came in, childish as one would expect a 5 year old to be. I continued gathering the personal information, but the patient was still looking over his shoulder (btw, our offices are on the 3rd floor of a very secure building)…
The patient, after numerous time me asking him if he ready to go ahead with the test insisted that he was…. I handed him swabs to collect his sample… the first set he managed to drop on the floor. I gave him another set, he open collected his first swab and then…
Without any indication to me he got up grabbed the child and left. I managed to get to him at the lifts, he was now stuttering and obviously very shaken. He just uttered under his breath that he was scared… he got into the lift and left.
I called him on his cell. He apologized, I explained to him that he nothing to apologize for, and that he was not ready for a paternity test and was probably doing it for the wrong reasons.
So, the point of this blog… are you prepared for a DNA Paternity Test?
Collecting your samples is easy, getting the result that you probably gave thought to a million times in your mind is not.
At DNA Test we probe, ask the right questions as not all of our clients require a paternity test. As with the case of this particular patient, he was using the paternity test and hopeful of a mis-matched result to break up with his partner – the little boys mother. Thankfully the patient, in my opinion, realized that he had a child for 5 years to whom he referred to as his son and now that could change.
The mother had had admitted to having an affair, but that is a matter for the patient and his partner to resolve.
For my part, I’m just glad that he did not go through with the test and hopefully as a family they can address their discord.
A paternity test is’nt easy, there are a lot of factors to consider. Give them thought and thought again… after all there are children involved. I’m always free for a no obligation consultation.
My kindest words
Nevin. 
