Researchers at University of Southern California’s School of Social Work) are enrolling multiple individuals in a family impacted by direct-to-consumer (DTC) DNA testing unexpected DNA paternity results. Researchers request the person most closely impacted by a DNA discovery (the parent or adult child) be the first to reach out to the research team with interest.

NPE has become the term for a person who has discovered one or both parents is not genetically related to them, popularized by the first wide-spread NPE support organization, NPE Friends Fellowship. Many people introduce themselves or describe themselves as “I am an NPE” — this serves to connect NPEs and can be a way to help non-NPEs understand how disruptive the late discovery of misattributed parentage can be to someone’s identity.

I recently received an inquiry from the uncle of a newly-discovered adult adoptee who had searched and identified his biological mother via 23andMe. The question was why his sister (the birth mom) had at first been excited that her biological son had been found, but then changed.

Research into the experiences of people receiving unexpected results from DNA testing continues.

A new study based at Long Island University aims to explore parental identity experiences in greater depth, from a small number of adults who have taken a DNA test and received an unexpected discovery related to their own parentage.

Research into the experiences of people getting unexpected results from a home DNA test is still in infancy. A new study based at McGill University aims to explore the experiences of consumer DNA testers who receive an unexpected result with implications to their own parentage.

J.C. Kenney is the author a series of cozy mystery novels, one of which involves using DNA and genealogy to solve a murder cold case. You need not be a true crime fan or a DNA expert to learn from today's episode! The conversation with J.C. hones in on the highlights of DNA and crime investigation and is a great intro for those unfamiliar with investigative genetic genealogy, often shortened to IGG. 

Michael's search entered a new phase when a consumer DNA test connected him to paternal DNA relatives. The up-and-down journey, the people he came to know along the way, and the new understanding he has of his parents are all documented in his memoir, I Had My Underwear on the Entire Time.

The conversation between host Brianne Kirkpatrick and Boni swings back and forth, exploring the personal impacts of a misattributed parentage discovery on Boni and his awareness of the need for societal change. Boni shares how the new trauma of the NPE ('not parent expected') discovery rekindled some of the old trauma from his past, requiring hard work in the therapist's office to work through.

K.S. “Katie” Hopkins never guessed that a discovery about her sister's unexpected paternity would be just the start of a number of surprises in the family. What began as crumbs of information left in family documents led to DNA testing which confirmed a hidden family history.

Maggie Chenard is the Mindful NPE on Instagram and Twitter, and she hosts a secret Facebook group of same name. In the very first episode of DNA Clarity and Support was an interview, Maggie shared with host Brianne the journey she has taken after a discovery two years ago that the father she has always known was not her biological father. Hear how grief changes with time, the impact of an "NPE" (not parent expected) discovery on existing relationships, and what it takes to help those around you know how to offer the right kind of support. Download and print the free mindfulness meditation poster.

What do we do once we know a hereditary disease exists in a family? Researchers and genetics experts are finding new and novel ways to combine medical research with family history of the genealogical kind.

In this episode, Laura Kieger talks about her family's experience with the hereditary cancer syndrome, FAP. Kieger relates how in just a few short decades, the progress of medical genetics and cancer diagnosis has had a profound impact on her own life and others in her family. If anyone needs an example to point to as support for the importance of sharing DNA medical surprises with family, this episode of DNA Clarity and Support offers it!

Maggy wrote a reflection for the Watershed DNA blog three years ago. She is back again to share more reflections on her misattributed parentage experience. “Each puzzle piece helps me put myself together a little more firmly. I’m so grateful that I took that DNA test in 2013. It changed me and who I think I am and gave me a stronger sense of self than I think I ever would have had otherwise.”

Season 2 kicks off with Melissa Guida-Richards.

The wives of husbands who are newly discovered to be someone’s biological father struggle as well.

Podcast Ep 9: Meet Richard Hill, the adoptee who was the first to use DNA testing to search for and discover the identity of his birth parents.

"NPE" is an acronym with a history originating in the term “non-paternity event” — a term used in the medical setting when parent/child mismatches were uncovered as a result of clinical genetic testing. NPE has also become the term for a person who has discovered one or both parents is not genetically related to them.

Cory's memoir, Folksong, touches on the pain and hope she felt through her journey at the end of her mother's life and through the discovery soon after that her mother had been keeping a secret about Cory's paternity for decades.

Guest blogger Christiane shares her experience telling her two children of different ages about using double gamete donation (both egg and sperm donation) to conceive them.

Doubt is a common reaction in unexpected DNA family discoveries. It’s not only common, it’s also normal and important.