THE FAITH OF
ILLEGITIMATE CHILDREN AND DNA TEST
Illegitimate
children are children had out of wedlock or formal union of a man and a woman
in marriage. They are victims of circumstances that were not of their own making.
They grow up to find themselves in such a predicament of not knowing who is real
and true biological father. In most cases they are told when they are already matured
in life or by persuading their mother and in some cases it might lead to
threats or even violence before they get the true story of their roots.
In this
situation of child development their mothers are hard hit, because the upbringing
of these children is basically the responsibility of their mothers. The long
time difficulties they encounter vary in terms of the gender of the child. From
my Igbo tribe point of view, the male child finds it very difficult to be
integrated into the immediate family of his father. In most cases the father of
that very illegitimate male child must have married and had children with his
wife. The faith of this male child will be hanging on the step mother who will
find it difficult to absorb him into her family due to the fact of inheritance
of the property of her husband.
In the case
of the death of the husband, there is the fear that the illegitimate child if
accepted in the family will be entitled to share the property with the
legitimate children of the man. That is when the war will come within the
family of who gets what from the inheritance. One thing is clear; the
illegitimate child did not beg to be born into the world.
In the case
of a girl child she will not be a big problem to the family all they need to do
for her is to give her basic education and she will grow up and get married and
start her own family.
There has
been a recent development of many shocking disclosures of illegitimate children
within matrimonial homes with husbands suddenly discovering that they are not the
biological fathers of their children after many years of parenting. I think men
should be doing DNA tests to confirm the paternity of their children and more
importantly, on their first child, because the society has changed with rampant
promiscuity and infidelity mostly dangerous for women. There is what they call
farewell love time with their ex- boyfriends before getting married the next
few days, weeks or even months and the intended husband to be is definitely not
aware of the whole escapades before going on honeymoon without knowing that the
wife to be is already pregnant with another man’s child. There was a story of a
man who was staying out of the country for some years and he normally visited
home from time to time until when he wanted to take them along out of the
country and one of the conditions for taking his family is that they will
undergo DNA tests for the entire family. After the process, he discovered that
two of his four children were not his biological children. The man asked the
wife “who is the father of the children that call me DADDY?” There is an Igbo
adage that asks who owns the baby you are carrying?
Will I advise
that men should take their first child and others for DNA tests or what? Should
girls go for pregnancy tests before their weddings or what? But it all boils
down to trust and having respect for yourself and your family heritage.
Illegitimate
children in most cases live miserable lives, because of their unfortunate circumstances
which are not of their own making. Illegitimate children must be treated with diginity
as your real children no matter what happens, they have the right to live and
be respected in your family and the society.
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