How to handle NPEs
DNA testing has revealed that the father (Charles) of my grandmother (Betty) as listed on her birth certificate, and legally married to her mother at the time of Betty's birth, is not her biological father. (I does explain why he abandoned his wife and daughters).
(I have identified the likely candidate for her biological father, but without being 100% sure, as it could be one of his brothers, I am not going to link him in Family Tree)
Currently in Family Tree, Charles is linked to Betty as the default "Biological" father. None of the alternative relationships (Adoptive, Step, Foster, or Guardian) are correct either. There needs to be some category — "Legal"? "Paper"? — to describe the relationship.
There would be a similar dilemma with the parents of a child conceived by donor sperm, because of the father's impotence. The husband is listed on the birth certificate, and therefore is not step-, adoptive, or foster, but some other man is the biological father.
Answers
-
@James Pratt_1 - why is "step" not appropriate? A step-parent is normally an unrelated person married to a biological parent of the child in question. That appears to be the case here.
While the guy in question is mentioned on the birth certificate (which is not the case for step-parents) I feel that we need to be careful to not go chasing fine distinctions that would be better recorded in a Note. A note (possibly several!) allows an extended version of the story to be given, whereas creating a new concept is fraught with difficulties, not least because of the scope for misunderstandings.
I would give the same answer for a child conceived by donor sperm. Again, the name is on the birth certificate (at least in England & Wales it is), which is not the normal case for a step parent, but again the "cure" of creating a new concept is, in my view, worse than the "disease" of an oddity in relation to data on the certificate.
Furthermore, there are all sorts of cases where I can concoct weirdness in relation to these terms such as "step" - for instance, what about someone who starts out as a stepfather and then becomes an adoptive father? Again, sensible explanations in Note(s) seem the best way forward to me.
2 -
In one place in my tree I had suspected, but not exactly proven parents. I added them using the Other Relationships feature and then added notes to document why I thought he was the father and why she was the mother. I also added sources and uploaded the Full Text Search's highlighted download files with my comments. Eventually someone else read my work and connected the child to the parents, but the point is, you can connect them via Other Relationships and accomplish 2 things: let someone see your thinking as long as you source and document both child and parent; AND it gives quick access to the potential new parent. Anyone interested can then quickly and easily look at the possible parent through the Relative link.
2