Imagine you are adopted. You have a few pieces of paper with some background information about your birth parents but nothing else. You want to know who your birth parents are but the agency who did the adoption wants $500.00 to contact the birth mother to see if she is willing to meet you. That is a hefty price to pay when you have no ability to know if the money will be wasted if she declines. What other resources do you have? I suggest starting with a DNA test.
Is your sibling or parent out there?
Three years ago about this time I was getting the results of my 23 and Me DNA test. I wanted to see the percentages of my ancestral homelands, but I had really wanted to get the health portion. My paternal grandmother was adopted, and I had little contact with that side of my family. I felt the need to see if I was a carrier of any diseases. The bonus, maybe I would find a long lost cousin in Ireland. I got my results, and my health portion results were great. My ancestry wasn’t too big of a surprise, and I didn’t really know any of my matches, but was excited to find that long lost cousin.
I wanted a long lost cousin, instead I got a new sister!
Fast forward a month and I get an email saying, “I think you may be my grandmother.” I laughed it off because well, I was not old enough to be a mother to a 28 year old. Later in the day, when checking email, there were 15 more emails from my match with information that was in this person's adoption records. As I kept reading, I realized the male she was describing fit the description of my biological father. So I quickly looked up to see what the relationship might be for a 25% DNA match. Half-sister was one of the results as was grandparent and a few others. Well, I wanted a long lost cousin, instead I got a new sister!
She found her birth mother!
With this revelation, she found out she had three sisters, two brothers, one niece, and four nephews. Her family grew quite large when you add in aunts, uncles, and grandparents. Though, in full disclosure, we as a family do not all speak to each other besides the siblings. In fact, I had not spoken to my biological father since he had brought home a young girlfriend, who in the end, was the mother of my new sister. My sister really wanted to find her birth mother, and I only remembered her age and what she looked like. So I suggested to her that she do an Ancestry DNA kit because of their bigger database. We are now almost three years later, and she took the DNA test and guess what, she found her birth mother. My heart rejoices that she has found her maternal biological family to add to her adoptive family.
DNA matching could work for you
DNA tests are so important in today’s society. They can draw us closer to our ancestors by revealing where they were from. It can introduce us to new relatives we never knew we had such as distant cousins. It can reunite families of children who were adopted. As always, nothing is guaranteed to have a happy ending. But I love all the relatives I have found, whether secret or distant, that help complete my family tree.
Are you seeking your family? Let us help you. Get it touch here.
