Friday 27 April 2001 (ET)

Man to pay for another's girl
By Ben Fenton

AN American man must pay child support to a seven-year-old girl even though a DNA test proved that she was not his daughter, a court ruled.

The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts decided that the man's treatment of her as his daughter was the most significant factor in their relationship. When the girl was born her mother had told the man that he was the father. But in 1999, having long ago split up with the mother, he heard rumours that he was not the father.

A doctor also told him that his low sperm count made it unlikely that he would ever have children. A DNA test on the girl showed that they were not related. However, over the years he had treated her as his daughter and spent an estimated £20,000 in child support.

He went to court seeking to be freed from a paternity agreement he had signed with the mother and to be reimbursed for his payments. However, the court found that parenthood involved more than blood ties. Just because science could determine that a man and child were not related, this would not negate a relationship that had developed between them.

The court said: "No judgment can force him to continue to nurture his relationship with Cheryl, or to protect her from whatever assumptions she may have about her father. But we can protect her financial security and legal rights."

Pauline Quirion, the mother's lawyer, said: "What's critical is the parent-child relationship and the reliance that's occurred over the years in this particular case."