A: See adenine.

AABB: The American Association of Blood Banks Parentage Testing Committee, the voluntary inspection and certification organization for parentage testing laboratories located in Arlington, Virginia.

AAFS: The American Academy of Forensic Sciences, the primary national forensic scientific organization headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colorado. They hold an annual scientific meeting and publish the Journal of Forensic Science.

Absent Parent: Non custodial parent.

Accrual: The sum of child support payments that are due or overdue.

Acknowledgment of Parentage/Paternity: An acknowledgement by a man, or both parents, that the man is the father of a child, usually provided in writing on an affidavit or form.

Adenine: An organic base, one of the four monomers or building blocks from which DNA is made.

Adjudication: The entry of a judgment, decree, or order by a judge or other decision-maker such as a master, referee, or hearing officer based on the evidence submitted by the parties.

Administrative Process: A statutory system granting authority to an executive agency (instead of courts or judges) to determine child support obligations, including paternity establishment, order establishment, enforcement, and modifications.

Admissible; Admissibility: Any testimony, document, or demonstrative material that is officially considered by the court, i.e., allowed into evidence, generally in compliance with the rules of evidence.

AFDC "Aid to Families with Dependant Children": Our national welfare system for children in need of support. It has been replaced with the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA) by the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant program.

Affidavit: A written statement voluntarily signed under oath, usually in support of a motion.

Affidavit of Denial of Paternity: Sworn statement signed by a child's mother and her husband at the time of her child's birth or conception saying the husband is not the father of the child.

Affidavit of Indigency: A sworn statement that you sign that says you cannot afford to pay court fees.

AFLP: Amplified fragment length polymorphism. A VNTR containing alleles generally less than one thousand base pairs in length that have been amplified using the PCR process. The length of the resulting DNA fragments, which are separated by electrophoresis, is determined by the PCR primers rather than the restriction enzyme site as is the case in RFLP. STRs are a class of AFLPs in which the repeat units are even smaller.

Agarose: A jello like substance derived from seaweed that is used as a medium for the size separation of DNA and proteins by the process of electrophoresis.

Alleged Father (AF); Putative Father (PT) A man who is contesting an accusation of paternity or wishes to establish it when a question of paternity exists.

Allele: Alternate forms of the same gene. When a genetic locus is polymorphic, there are alleles for that gene. Example are A, B, and O of the ABO blood gene.

Allele Frequency: The representation of a specific allele out of the total alleles observed at that locus.

AMPFLP:See AFLP.

Analytical Gel: The final gel in an RFLP test and the one that will be used to make the Southern blot.

Antigen: Genetic product (protein) that is detected by immunological techniques (using antibodies).

Arrearages: The deficiency between the amount, if any, paid and the amount required under court order. If payments are made voluntarily on a de facto basis, i.e., not under court order, any reduction in the amount of such payments is not considered an arrearage.

ASCLD-LAB: The American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors Laboratory Accreditation Board. The voluntary inspection and certification organization for crime laboratories. It is a separate organization from ASCLD itself.

ASHG: The American Society of Human Genetics.

ASHI: The American Society of Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics.

Assignment of Support Rights: As a condition of eligibility for public assistance (TANF), the custodial parent must agree to turn over to the State any right to child support.

Attorney for the Child(ren): A court-appointed attorney who represents the stated wishes of the child(ren). Unlike a guardian ad litem who acts in the child's best interest by substituting her own judgment for the child's, the attorney for the child(ren) must promote those causes espoused by the child(ren) and generally not substitute her own judgment.

Autorad: A film exposed by a radioactive tracer. In the case of forensic RFLP analysis the tracer is attached to a DNA probe which is in turn attached to a VNTR allele immobilized on a Southern blot.

Autoradiogram: See autorad

Autoradiograph: See autorad

Autoradiography: See autorad