People & CultureSocial Welfare
Man fakes paternity test to sneak ‘daughter’ into household record and start school sparks heated adoption debate online
Devoted father had been raising girl on his own after her mother left home, believing she was his daughterCase has divided public opinion over man’s actions but many are sympathetic to his situationTrending in ChinaFran Luin BeijingPublished: 6:00pm, 22 Sep, 2023Why you can trust SCMP
A devoted Chinese father spent five days in custody when he faked a paternity test to get his daughter into school even after discovering she was not his biological child.
The man, surnamed Li, took a DNA test to register his daughter in the local hukou, the household registration system based on the holder’s birthplace, so that she would be able to attend school.
He had been raising the girl on his own after her mother left home, believing that she was his daughter, according to a report published by Jiujiang Fabu, the official social media account of Jiujiang city in the southeastern province of Jiangxi, where they live.
Li said he was dating the girl’s mother in 2019 when she became pregnant and that she vanished soon after the birth. He had no reason to believe the child was not his daughter and said he was shocked by the DNA result.
Because he was not married to the mother and did not know her whereabouts, Li was legally prevented from adopting the girl. Chinese law requires the agreement of at least one birth parent to an adoption and for single men to be at least 40 years older than the child.