MEMPHIS, TN (abc24.com) - Fatherhood is an important responsibility, one that certainly should not be taken lightly. But what if you discovered you were not the father of a child you thought was yours? In Shelby County it happens a lot more than you would think. One Memphis man is trying to bring attention to the issue. He's even written a book describing what happened to him.
When you’re watching one of those reality TV shows the “big reveal” is what everyone waits for, but for many men the way it plays out on TV compares nothing to reality.
“It was a traumatic part of my life. I knew that it affected me tremendously,” Marcus Matthews told abc24.com.
Matthews is accomplished, an author who’s working on his doctorate at the University of Memphis. However it wasn't long ago he was falsely accused a fathering a child.
“I was 17-years-old dating a young lady who was 16. We dated, had sex, she got pregnant; she said I was the father of her child. I questioned it because I wore a condom the one time we had sex,” said Matthews.
His experience pushed him to chronicle his story and those of four other men in his book “I Am Not the Father.” After paternity testing each man discovered the child they thought they'd fathered wasn't there's. In Matthews' case the mother died in a car accident shortly before the DNA results were revealed.
“I was left confused and the child was left with a deceased mother and no idea who her father was,” Matthews told abc24.com.
It turns out the issue is wide spread. In his research Matthews discovered that in Shelby County
55-percent of paternity testing reveals the man is not the biological father. He puts it plainly; he believes some women are out to target successful men.
“As sad as it is, it's true. There is a breed of woman whose main focus in dating is to get as much as she can get from a man at all cost,” said Matthews.
Steve Conn, director of Medical Testing Resources in Memphis told abc24.com that paternity testing in 100-percent accurate in terms of statistical reliability. Nearly all private DNA testing in Shelby County is done out of their office. Conn told abc24.com that if a man has a test performed, there has to be a thought the child isn't his.
“There's always nagging doubt and it's just tugging at a man and maybe he's heard it on the streets maybe his friends have commented to him, maybe his family has taken a look at the baby but at one point or another maybe by the time the child is 2-years-old they may say the resemblance is just not stacking up there,” said Conn.
For his part Matthews told abc24.com the book isn't about stirring controversy, rather stirring thought.
“Until we really hold this discussion openly and not be dismissive about it, it's not going to get any better,” said Matthews.
