Closer to home, an unusual story featuring on many mainstream media sites this month about a High Court ruling against Barnsley Council’s bid to determine a boy’s parentage through a DNA test.

The case arose after a man mixed his sperm with his father’s to help him and his partner conceive, resulting in a situation where there’s a strong chance that the man the child thinks is his grandfather is his biological father, and the man he thinks is his father is his biological half-brother. The bid was dismissed, with the judge deciding that paternity testing was a matter for the family. The story highlights the many possibilities presented by this route to parenthood and the myriad of complexities that can arise, and why it’s so important to consider the potential ramifications of different choices for all those involved, now and in the future.