Doni is the creator of Culturs Magazine which celebrates people with cross-cultural identities; she has seen how the experience of ‘third culture’ people overlaps often with the NPE world.

Check out the episode to hear our discussion and understand more about the work I do through my writing and private practice, Watershed DNA. We talked about my book The DNA Guide for Adoptees and a little about my upcoming book on the topic of genetic identity. In our discussion, Doni also shared about her role in helping NPEs through the non-profit organization NPE Network. 

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.

Podcast Ep 5: With the increasing popularity of at-home consumer DNA testing through companies like Ancestry.com and 23andMe, more and more men are finding previously unknown offspring. For a man with a wife and family, this discovery presents unique challenges, particularly if that newfound "child" is a grown woman.

Molly gave advice through her post to the biological fathers who were discovered by DNA testing and shocked to learn there was a child ‘out there’ they never knew about.

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.

This is a post aimed at educating the professionals who work with people having DNA testing who are familiar with and in a position to share unexpected findings such as incest/high ROH. At the end, we offer a call-to-action. NOTE: Please proceed to the full post only if you are prepared to read about shocking topics including sexual trauma, DNA trauma, severe family dysfunction and abuse.

Have you or your family ever met with a genetic counselor before? Do you know one personally? Just like there are so many ways doctors and nurses and teachers apply their education and training, there are countless ways genetic counselors help.

Adopted and interested in starting a search? We’ve gathered more detailed information for you here and identified places to go for more. Two paths—the DNA-first route and the records-first route—are the main paths adoptees use today to begin a search for biological relatives.

Read about the first U.S. state to pass a bill banning anonymous donation of gametes providing protections and other legislative changes providing new safeguards for those conceived with donor assistance.