Maternity Testing

A maternity test is a DNA test that determines whether a woman could be the biological mother of a child. Maternity testing has been used for immigration purposes, to confirm that an embryo conceived through in vitro fertilization was implanted into the correct mother, to confirm that an adoptee has been reunited with his/her birth mother, or to resolve cases of potential baby switching in the nursery following delivery. Like a paternity test, it compares a child's DNA variations with that of the alleged mother to determine how likely it is that the child has inherited the DNA from the tested woman.