The structure of families coming to the UK’s family court has changed significantly. The ‘traditional’ two-parent household is no longer the default and care proceedings involve increasingly complex families rather than straightforward parental arrangements.
As a result, family law solicitors are increasingly required to look beyond the child’s immediate parents to identify a safe home for them. When a biological parent is absent, deceased or unwilling to care for the child, the child’s right to a family life often depends on proving a connection to the wider paternal or maternal line, such as grandparents, siblings, aunts or uncles. In these circumstances, providing evidence of this biological link can be key to securing kinship care.
The Legal Framework
Under the Children Act 1989, local authorities have a duty to explore kinship care – placing a child with relatives or ‘connected persons’ rather than within the foster care system.
However, the path to obtaining a Child Arrangements Order or Special Guardianship Order is often paved with obstacles when the primary link (the parent) is missing. For solicitors, a recurring challenge is the absence of formal evidence that the proposed carer is biologically related to the child. This can mean that suitable placements are then delayed or ruled out completely.
Legal DNA Testing
Legal DNA testing has become an invaluable tool for kinship care proceedings, demonstrating a biological connection between a child and proposed carer. Unlike standard paternity or maternity DNA testing, it often involves more distant relationships, making the interpretation of results more complex.
As a result, it is important to note that the probability of obtaining a conclusive result varies depending on the relationship in question. While direct parentage testing offers a very high level of certainty (99.9-99.99%), DNA testing with extended family has a wider statistical range due to reduced shared DNA. Therefore, expert laboratory testing and analysis by an accredited provider is critical for these cases.
Learn more about the probability of a conclusive result here.
Navigating Complex Relationships
NorthGene™ specialises in testing these complex relationships, providing reliable results when it matters most. As a Ministry of Justice approved and The United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) accredited laboratory, results can be used to support kinship care applications where traditional parentage testing is not possible, including:
- Grandparentage testing: This is typically used to establish a paternal link when the father is unavailable for testing.
- Avuncular testing: Proving a relationship between a child and their alleged aunt or uncle.
- Siblingship testing: Used to keep siblings together or prove they share a common parent.
By selecting the most appropriate test, solicitors can strengthen kinship care applications and provide the courts with clearer biological evidence.
The Legal Standard
For solicitors, the primary concern in these cases is admissibility. The UK’s family courts require strict compliance with chain of custody procedures to ensure the integrity of evidence.
As a Ministry of Justice approved laboratory, NorthGene™ ensures that all legal DNA testing follows robust processes. Every sample is collected by an independent third party, verified with photographic ID and handled with the utmost care and precision. This ensures that the resulting report is legally admissible and can be relied on by solicitors and the court when making critical decisions about a child’s future.
Reliable Results, When It Matters Most
As the family law landscape continues to evolve, the role of the solicitor is to provide the court with the certainty and clarity it needs to act in the child’s best interests. In kinship care, legal DNA testing can be the key factor that keeps children within their family.
By leveraging specialist DNA testing, legal professionals can ensure that relatives are not overlooked, supporting outcomes that prioritise stability and long-term welfare for children – something that the care system cannot replicate.
To learn more about legal DNA testing, visit the NorthGene™ website today.
This article was submitted by NorthGene as part of an advertising agreement with Today’s Family Lawyer. The views expressed in this article are those of the submitter and not those of Today’s Family Lawyer
