Final repost/Last call for participants: I previously posted about the KIND Research Study, and I’m sharing it one final time before recruitment closes in a couple weeks. Thank you mods for allowing the posts and to everyone who has already participated or expressed interest. The KIND Research Study at the University of Michigan School of Nursing is aimed at better understanding the family & life experiences of donor conceived adults. This is an online, anonymous survey. KIND: Kinship & Identity Narratives of Donor Conceived Adults

Interested in participating? https://myumi.ch/n1Mrx (direct link to eligibility screen, consent to participate, & survey) or email us: [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]) 
Feel free to pass this information to anyone else who may be interested.

We’re hoping to better understand:

• how people learned they were donor conceived
• experiences with donor siblings/genetic networks
• thoughts on identity, family, & disclosure
• advice for recipient parents & donor conceived children

Thanks for considering participating or sharing with others who may be eligible. The survey is confidential, voluntary, & intended for donor conceived adults (18+) living in the United States. This study has been reviewed & approved by University of Michigan Institutional Review Board and is being led by Dr. Alison Walsh.

Hello I am sharing an online, anonymous research study exploring family and life experiences of donor conceived adults. The KIND study (Kinship & Identity Narratives of Donor Conceived Adults) is out of the University of Michigan School of Nursing.

We’re hoping to better understand:

• how people learned they were donor conceived
• experiences with donor siblings/genetic networks
• thoughts on identity, family, and disclosure
• advice for recipient parents and donor conceived children

If you are interested or want to learn more: https://myumi.ch/n1Mrx or you can email me, Mary (Project Director) at [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected])

Thanks for considering participating or sharing with others who may be eligible.

The survey is confidential, voluntary, and intended for adults (18+) who are donor conceived and living in the United States and has been reviewed and approved with the University of Michigan Institutional Review Board.

I guess I just need to share. Feeling quite alone in this.

I always suspected my brother wasn’t my full brother. He’s 2 years younger. So I took a sibling test and he is my half sibling.

So then took another test with me dad. And turns out that we both have the same dad. I was shocked. I used another lab and got the same results.

That means we have different mothers. I literally cannot imagine this scenario. Either

1) my father had a prior relationship and then married the woman who raised me. My birth hospital photos would have been staged. This would make sense in how my mother treated me all these years - sabotaging me, saying I looked like my father with disgust, clinging to my brother. However, the birth certificate would have had to been changed. Or the woman who raised my changed her name to the same one on the birth certificate (a common practice in India).

2) my father impregnated someone else who agreed to give up her baby. My brother was born in India however. So that means the woman would have agreed to travel to India. Sons are revered in India. Surrogacy was not a thing in the 1970s and my mom could have children. But then my mother would have had to accept this baby and even love him more. I have never seen hospital photos of my brother but it was just like “that’s how India is”.

It’s very upsetting to know that multiple people must have known either way and you’ve been lied to your entire life. Confusing too bc although my parents were toxic, this is another level.

Maternity test is next.

Open to ideas/suggestions. Thank you.

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Both parents Chinese but got 50 50 Chinese and African my parents do have small % of African and South Asian ancestry but I didn’t expect the % for African to be this big. Should I make them do the dna test and would phasing change my results?

Syrian father (Aleppo) + Dutch mother (Brabant)

My dad was adopted as a baby, so have of my heritage is unknown. Would 23andme or Ancestry DNA show more info about where potential relatives are located and what their heritage is?

So I recently got an ancestry account for fun with my mom and accidentally outed my father for having a secret half sibling. She texted him that I found out and had him talk to us about it. He really didn't give much info, It seems like he and my mom knew the whole time, because it was from a relationship/fling long before any of my siblings. The one piece of info I got from my mom was that the mother of my half sibling "didn't want anything to do with my dad". This gave me the feeling at first, that I shouldn't reach out to respect their privacy and choices. However, after talking with my dad he made me feel like it was totally appropriate to at least let them know of me and my siblings existence. Should I reach out? If I do how should I reach out?

This question is for anybody who's well versed in how these DNA tests work and what the percentages mean as far as generational distance from the subject (me).

I've taken two DNA tests. One was through Ancestry DNA and the other was through Helix as part of the Genetic Insights Project research study.

Some ancestry showed up on the Helix test that was very surprising and didn't show on the Ancestry DNA test results.

What would contamination from someone who processed my sample look like on a DNA test result? Would it show as only 4.6% of the pie or more? Or could this be legitimately in my DNA? How far back would I need to go to find that 4.6% in my ancestry? How many generations back is that 4.6%?

I'm sorry to be vague about this but I want answers without applying my own bias and theories. I know the questions I've asked are already biased but I don't want to add any more sway to the question.

ETA: Ancestry per usual was a saliva sample. Helix & the Genetic Insights Project had me supply a blood sample. If that makes any difference I don't know, but I thought I'd add that info.

Hi there,

I am a graduate student at Central Connecticut State University who took a DNA test as an adult and subsequently discovered my misattributed parentage.

This semester, I am conducting a class research project where you are being asked to participate to help better understand what resources are available to people who have experienced misattributed parentage, also known as a non-paternal event.

A non-paternal event occurs when a person finds out, through a direct-to-consumer DNA test, that the person whom they thought was their biological parent is not their actual biological parent.

You will be asked open-ended questions about your experiences in discovering your misattributed parentage through direct-to-consumer DNA testing.

There will be no compensation, monetary or otherwise, associated with your participation in this research.

Kindly chat me if you would like more information on how you can participate!

Thank you,

Samantha

I'm a 26 year old male from middle eastern origins. Prefer not to say where exactly. Recently I discovered that my mom had an affair while married to who I thought was my dad while she was vacationing in Egypt with her friends. These relegations came about after I did a DNA test I took as I thought I might have a kid out there somewhere. I wish I never did a DNA test or had to confront my 63 year old mother about this. I am so lost and confused on what to do next. Biological dad literally died 2 months ago and I have 5 siblings. 5 sisters and one brother ranging in age from 17-35. With a background such as the Middle East I don't know what to do but I feel so conflicted on how to go about any of it. Please help me with ideas/suggestions, better yet anyone else go through this like me?

I found out that my biological father was our family priest. Both my dad and this man have long passed away so all I’m left with is questions. My elderly mother (90’s) has memory loss so we (sister and I) haven’t even asked her about it. I Wonder what the two men talk about in heaven!

I found out on 23andMe of 3 potential half siblings. But they're on my mom's side, all younger than me, and a pregnancy obviously would not have gone unnoticed by me. Simply put it's not possible that my mom had 3 babies in secrecy. I would have been a teenager when these matches were born. And I lived with her and saw her every day. So secret pregnancies theory is totally out.

I already have 2 half sisters from my moms second marriage that I was raised with (although I'm quite a bit older than them).

Of the three matches on 23andMe, the highest match was 27% shared DNA. I almost dismissed this whole thing until I looked up a picture of this person and the resemblance is startling. Like, literally the same face as me and my sisters. She looks just like my mom. The second match is the first persons sister (25% dna match to me) and the third match is totally unrelated to the other two (20% dna match with me). The second and third match have a lot less resemblance to me. To boot, they all live in the same city as me.

I read in some old letters that my mom had 'fertility treatments' to get pregnant with my younger sisters. I am now wondering if that was IVF and whether her extra eggs or embryos were donated. These DNA matches are around the same age as my sisters, only a few years younger than they are. She's also religious and if she did IVF and had extras, she likely would not have discarded them.

I am stumped though because when asked if she ever did IVF, my mom said no. I also am skeptical because only one of the three matches has a high resemblance to me. My mom isn't the most forthcoming in her secrets and has a tendency to recreate history. If she did donate her eggs all these years ago, she very likely does not want to grapple with the reality of bio children out there, so I don't think asking her outright would go over well and I likely wouldn't get the truth anyway. She would probably find it disrespectful that I am digging into this.

This is totally confusing to me and I'm just wondering if anyone else has gotten matches like this on 23andMe and found out it wasn't really accurate. It feels like a pretty tall tale I'm making up in my head given its on my moms side. If it was my dad I could have considered he spread his seed, but it's a little more far fetched on the moms side. Based on generational ages of all involved and other circumstances, I am certain these matches are not grandmas, aunts, or nieces. They could be first cousins tho.

Edit: as a follow up, should i question my mom more directly or would you just let it go?. if she did donate extra eggs from an IVF procedure she very likely did so for religious reasons and never really considered anyone would find out. Knowing her she would have completely forced it from her memory, she's had a lot of tragedy in her life. Is this her secret to keep?

Any info on tracing heritage back further?

35 year old male

seein that ive read a few post i feel like this is the place for me.

so about 3 years ago for fathers day my lady got me a 23n me test. ive always wanted to kno wher my blood comes from.

when the test got to me i got scared. like something was tellin me dont do it. so it sat for almost a year lol. finally got the guts to send it.

when the results come in i immediately open app and get to seein all the colors on the map and was shocked. thinkin i was more of something just to see only 2% of it lol. but then i started seein all the other things to press. so i get to clickin. lookin at the "family tree" i see my moms side wit the familiar last names ive known. but i dont see my last name.

called my mom and gave her my log in information and told her we gotta talk and to take a look and call me bac. 10 mins later she calls bac cryin and apologizing to the point where I had to yell just a lil. and told her its ok. but now i need you to confirm. cryin she softly tells me that my pops is not my real pops and continued to say sorry. i told her that it makes sense on way he would just come home and whoop my ass lol. and that im not mad or sad or hurt or anything. she asked me why and i told her who am i to get mad at you.. she was/is a beautiful woman that was loving and living her life how she wanted. and plus it was the 80s. when i hear about that time its always 3 things.. Sex, Drugs, Rock and roll..

in reality i started to question who i am. planning on talkin to pops about it but couldnt pick the right time. till i found out that my older brother got shit faced and told him. two months later he was hit and killed on his motorcycle. and i broke. thinkin was that one of his last thoughts? and hoping he knows i miss him. every one that hears the way my life was they all ask why? how?

i say he gave me leather skin so my first fight was me winning. he taught me how to spot the real and fakes in a group. had to learn how to survive. and take care of my sisters..