The required participants of a grandparentage test are the child and both grandparents on one side. Grandparent DNA testing is often initiated because of doubts about a missing or deceased alleged father’s paternity; therefore, most of these tests involve the participation of the alleged father’s biological parents. This is known as paternal grandparentage testing.
The child’s mother is encouraged to participate as well. When the mother submits a DNA sample, the laboratory can identify and eliminate her contribution to the child’s genetic profile. This, in turn, allows the lab to focus on whether the paternal grandparents contributed any DNA to the child’s genetic profile.  If the child’s mother is unavailable for testing, we can still do a grandparentage test.  We will need to perform extended testing to obtain conclusive results, but we will do this for no additional fee.
Please note that grandparentage testing can also be performed with an alleged mother’s biological parents. Known as a maternal grandparentage test, this type of test is performed when a child’s alleged mother is unavailable for maternity testing.