'My dad doesn't think I'm his child but I refuse to take a paternity test'

A teen girl reveals that her dad doesn't think she is his child.

A teen girl reveals that her dad doesn't think she is his child.

A distraught teenager found out her father doesn't think she is his own child and wants her to get a paternity test.

The teenager is refusing because regardless, the man raised her – but now she thinks her dad hates being her father.

"My mum ran away to another country with some guy when I was eight years old and lately my dad's gotten really sure she was cheating on him long before that and I'm actually someone else's baby," the deeply upset teenager wrote in an anonymous post to Reddit.

"He keeps talking about how paternity fraud is a big issue and he needs a paternity test to be sure he's not getting suckered into raising another man's kid."

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The daughter doesn't want to get a paternity test. Source: iStock

"Why is my dad desperate to get a paternity test?"

The daughter admitted her feelings are hurt because regardless of who her father is, the man she lives with is the one who raised her and that's all she thinks should matter.

"I'm biased obviously, but I don't think I'm a difficult kid. I get good grades, I don't drink or do drugs or smoke, I don't talk back, I do my chores," she explained.

"So why does it feel like he's so desperate for me to not be his?

"Does he hate being my dad that much?"

The teenager said she looks like her father and honestly believes she is his, but is refusing to take a paternity test because she's nervous about what might happen to her if the test reveals a different story.

The father is quite mad that the daughter won't take a test, but she told him she would think about it in two years when she turns 18.

And despite feeling strongly about the issue, the teenager admitted she's unsure if she's acting inappropriately.

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Reddit reacts to teen's paternity plight

Luckily for her, the internet seems to be on her side.

"Being a father isn’t about being biologically related to them but rather the act of raising and caring for you," one of the thousands of commenters who read the story argued.

"Regardless of paternity test, this man has raised you and is your father in more ways than you think."

"[He is] so mad he can't see that he is hurting YOU," a second Reddit user wrote.

"Hopefully you can talk about how it would feel for both of you and what he plans on doing with the information."

Another user suggested that while it may be a scary situation, the poster should have a plan in case her father goes behind her back to get a test using her DNA.

However, a man who claimed to once be in a similar situation tried to comfort the teenager by sharing another angle.

"Speaking as a guy who's been through something similar to your dad, this is probably not about you at all.

"Your mother (and life in general) has left him with a lot of uncertainties, and it may be he wants this to prove that you really are his, and so remove at least one uncertainty," he wrote, adding that the father might be afraid of losing her.

This piece originally appeared here and has been republished with full permission

This article was published in December 2021 and updated in June 2024.

Originally published as 'My dad doesn't think I'm his child but I refuse to take a paternity test'