On Maury Povich's show, women from across the country come to Stamford to find out, in outrageous reality-TV style, who fathered their children.
Paternity tests reveal the answers, whether the couples like it or not.
Now, simple access to similar tests will be available five days a week in New Haven.
The DNA Genetics Lab, which specializes in speedy paternity tests, opened this week on Sherman Avenue.
"I think, welcome to the hood, Maury!" Dresha Shaw-Grier, who owns the hair salon next door to the lab, said.
Shaw-Grier said the new shop has created some chatter in the neighborhood.
“I mean, I guess in this day and age, it’s necessary. It’s like we learn from Maury, you never know. I’ve used this comment before, 'Mama’s baby, daddy’s maybe'," Shaw-Grier said.
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Joyce Winston decided to open up the lab in the first to erase that uncertainty.
She has been in the healthcare industry for years and has also had personal experience with paternity questions.
“There were instances in my life that I had, individuals in my life that found out that children weren’t theirs," Winston said.
Her lab provides DNA testing results in 24 to 48 hours. Other DNA tests can take weeks.
"I think that early on, if you do DNA testing, and you find out if a child is or is not yours, you bond with that child, or you make the decision of whether or not you want to continue to have a relationship with the child," Winston said.
Along with providing results more quickly, DNA Genetics promise faster results, Winston said the company’s services are less expensive.
A paternity test for informational purposes costs $200 and one for legal purposes costs $300. But some said even that is too much.
"Being that this is the inner city, again it needs to be like on an insurance plan so people can afford it. If people can’t afford it, I don’t know how the business is going to be good," Michelle Newton, of New Haven, saod.
DNA testing is usually not covered by insurance, Winston said, but she is trying to keep her prices as low as possible so people will be able to utilize the tests.
Many people said there is a demand in the community from mothers who do not know which man fathered their child.
"It happened to my brother, and it turned out, in the end, it wasn’t his child," Newton said.
"There’s a lot of girls who don’t know, lot of girls think they know, but everyone else is like, ‘no it’s not the child’s father’," Ashley Pugh, of New Haven, said.
Now there’s a way for the mothers and the fathers to find out.
The DNA clinic accepts walk-in clients or Winston will arrange to bring the DNA test to the customer.
