Familial Searching

Considerations

For policy makers, there have been two major areas of concern articulated in resistance or opposition to familial DNA searching: legal and public policy concerns. In terms of legal concerns, there are no statutes that exist which explicitly authorize the practice. Additionally, since most database laws were enacted at a time when there was little or no interest in or capacity to engage in familial DNA searching, there are no state or federal DNA database laws that explicitly authorize familial DNA searching. In terms of public policy concerns, there is hesitation to use this type of searching in the United States due to the objections of privacy advocates.