Adopted DNA Test Results - NOT What I Expected 🤯 Mind Blown

🧬 Friends, I just posted a follow up Q&A vlog, answering a few of your questions. Here it is: https://youtu.be/S8CN9VnfZr4 So love reading your comments, stories, and questions! I will get to them ALL ASAP

I met a half sister I never knew I had a year ago after an Ancestry DNA test. We talk everyday. One of the biggest blessings of my life. I wish you and your family all the best.

I was adopted...my stepdad was captured in the phillippines during WWII. He was in the Bataan-Corregador death march. Received a bronze star for his heroism in Hanawa Prisoner of war camp in Japan. He met my mother in Florida... And adopted me when I was three. They were not going to tell me I was adopted... My mother told my step-sister that I was adopted when I was 63 years old. It took me several years to find out my dad's name. I looked up his name on find a grave and found my first cousin... Via the comment section. They bought my dna test. I am 73% British 16% Irish, Scottish 7% Native American and 1% Black. I show approximately 1000 cousins. I did not discover my actual birth certificate until I was 70. Dad always told me that I did not have a birth certificate, so I used my baptismal certificate instead. Your cousins are your family...and your adopted parents are too. I finally met my blood relatives about 4 years ago...and I must say they are a great family to have. The best part is, they knew I was born, but did not know what had happened to me... So when I contacted my first cousin, she said..."we have been looking for you all of our lives!" John

I just sent my DNA test a couple of weeks ago. My grandfather was adopted. He passed on years ago and spent his life not knowing anything about his birth parents. He really wanted to know. I'm going to try to solve this 90 year old mystery.

I traced both my & my husband's family trees back to 1500s &found out that one of my hubby's maternal ancestors married one of mine. Technically we are distantly related. My Mother in Law was NOT amused by that.

I am 70 years old and just found half siblings.

I certainly understand the "still processing" part! I was adopted, and not interested in finding my birth-mother except to tell her that I was alive and well, and to thank her for giving birth to me. But friends of my adoptive parents seemed to think searching was important, and encouraged me to look for my biological parents before it was too late. (Later I learned that they were afraid I'd married my brother, which was NOT true!) I didn't search until after my adoptive mom had died and my dad gave me some adoption papers that he had, but wasn't supposed to have been given. I was so young and still not ready, and my searching was half-hearted. When I was in my early 30's, I finally got serious and did my search. I found I had 10 siblings between "his," "hers" and "theirs." My birth-mother wouldn't tell any of her kids (except one that was sworn to secrecy) so when she passed away the one sister told all of the rest of the kids. They were initially excited but then most of them decided I should have stayed a secret. My older brother said "even if we had known about you, we wouldn't have looked for you. There were already too many kids, too many mouths to feed, and not enough love in the family." Sadly, I think that was very true. My birth-father's family, however, eagerly accepted me and has loved on me ever since. My one regret was that my adopted dad felt betrayed, even though he was the one who gave me the info that started my search. He never told me that he was upset, but he shared his true feelings with my cousin. I'm thankful to have found my birth-family. All of my adoptive family (except one adopted brother) is gone... grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins... and I'd have almost no one if it wasn't for my birth-father's side of the family. But as much as I love my birth-family, I am ever so blessed to have been given up for adoption and to have had the family that I did growing up.

Our stories are similar but totally unique. I was adopted as an infant, and I used Ancestry to find my ethnic background, and I knew there was a chance I’d find my biological relatives. I always felt complete. My family is my family. Upon receiving my results, I found my first cousin and sent him a message. He immediately wrote back saying he’d been hoping to hear from me one day, and he asked permission to tell my biological mother. She was just 17 when I was born, and that’s something I always knew. I always wanted to thank her for giving me a beautiful life and a wonderful family. Of course we began communicating. She’d had 3 sons and a daughter after me, different father than me. My half siblings have been kind and never rude about this. My biological father sadly passed before I could meet him, but he also had a son. That means I have, in total, 4 half brothers and 1 half sister. I’ve found 1st cousins locally. My maternal grandmother is living nearby. It’s been a whirlwind, and I can really relate to the feelings of not knowing what to do with ALL this information. To be so easily accepted by a family I never knew is a blessing, but it’s also difficult to navigate. I’m lucky to feel no different about the family that raised me. That’s set in stone. That’s my family. Meeting new relatives, though. That’s been amazing.

I have two stories. I am not adopted and neither are my parents. They were teen parents born to teen parents. We've all been tested and didn't have any significant ethnicity surprises. However, one day a match came up as a 1st cousin match on my list. It was a bit shocking. I communicated with my match and while we found a common family surname it didn't really fit. We both just left it alone for about a year and I just assumed one of my relatives might have knocked up someone and we just didn't know about it. I picked up working on my tree and reconnected with the match. I also figured out how to determine if a match was on my mother's or father's side. My mom works on my tree with me and we figured it out it was on her side. We began to wonder if maybe our match didn't know she was adopted, etc... and out of the blue I had a moment of clarity and thought "what if it IS us?". I dug in and figured out that I had matches on each branch of our family tree but ONE. This one branch didn't seem to exist and in its place were names we didn't know. It was us. We nailed it down and determined that my mother's mother was where the tree veered. My grandmother's biological father was this woman's father making her my mom's "half aunt". We pretty much determined that this had to be true but really needed to test my grandmother to be certain. Last year I purchased a DNA kit for my grandparents. They essentially did it for me an my mom and our interest in history but didn't really care. My grandmother is ill, her parents are deceased and so is the biological father so we've opted not to share this information with her. She has 2 half-sisters. Our match was interested in knowing more but accepting of the fact that we won't tell her. Our match has a full sister that wants nothing to do with it which we accept. The 3 interested parties have met and had a great visit. It hasn't changed our lives in any measurable way but it makes parts of my mom and I make more sense knowing this information. My 2nd case was a match who reached out to me on Ancestry.com wanting to know if I was related to a specific person. She'd been told all her life that she and her sister had the same father. They had done a DNA kit and determined that this was not true. So she was trying to determine if he was her father or her sister's father. As I explained how she should search she just made me her manager and asked me to look. Within about 2 hours I'd built a tree with her matches and isolated the man I believe is her father. She's meeting her new family (they are for sure family) this week and her possible new half-sibling has agreed to take a DNA test to confirm the match. The father is deceased and wasn't someone known for his stellar character but she is delighted with the family she's connected with so far. Now I'm obsessed with helping others figure our their own mysteries. I may just become a genetic detective.

Thank you for your story. I am 48 years old and just discovered 4 days ago I am adopted. My adopted parents are both deceased. I have applied for a pre-adoption birth certificate and I am seriously considering DNA testing. It's been a whirlwind of emotions and I'm still processing. Your raw emotional testimony is encouraging to me. Thank you so much for sharing. :)

WOW! I was wondering why a light and fluffy DNA test results video was going to end up a 29 minute video. And what a journey! I’m kind of honoured that I was included in such a personal discovery with you, as I’m sure a lot of other people were too. Thank you for sharing it with us! I hope it all works out well for you all.

I think the step mother getting in touch and being so nice was really sweet, it goes to show that even though your 'biological' father was not in your life, he still loved and thought about you.

Aww, she was looking for you. You were missed. Your dad shared that you exist with her. Beautiful.

I had a DNA test and my mind was blown by the results. My late dad had always said he was an orphan and I have always been curious what happened to his parents. He said his father was Spanish and his mother was Irish and Native American. It turns out my dad was NOT an orphan. He was a teen runaway and his mother was actually Filipino and he was raised in the Philippines not the US as he had said. The story of the missing brother has been passed on through the family and when I messaged a cousin I learned the truth about my dad. I will be meeting some of my dad's family for the first time in a couple of weeks. I am thrilled to know the truth and his family is thrilled to know that he lived a long life and had a family. I am nervous but excited to see where this goes from here.

Omg I'm so jealous. I've thought about doing this, but was nervous. I too am adopted & every time I hear people talking about their family tree or biology I feel a little twinge. Yes, my family has a very long & well researched history, but even though they are 100% my family my brain still says to me "the tree is borrowed ". My daughter was a revelation to me. The first person in my life who shares a resemblance. I look at her & say, oh that's my nose & it's a surreal feeling. I'm not looking for another family; I adore the one I have. I hold no animus towards my birth parents who were only 14 & 17. In fact I'm extremely grateful to them for giving me a great life. It's just this missing puzzle piece of where do I come from. What's the story of their lives & those before them. Thank you so much for sharing this experience with us. It's certainly helped make a decision I have been battling for a long time.

My grandfather denied my mother since she was born and they also denied me. I took the DNA test and came up a match and i was contacted on ancestry wanting to know who i was because i don't use my real name on there. I then realized it was my grandfather's sister and also her daughter i had connected to. They are no longer denying me lol. I still don't know my grandfather for he still not wanting to be a part of our lives but it is his loss.

I can tell you that my heart ACHED for my son when he was taken from me. Now he wants nothing to do with me. THATS HURTSFUL!

i just found my sister threw ancestry as she started a family tree and it popped up on mine that relatives were on her tree too :) me and my sister are both adopted

It sounds like your biological dad would have been a good one. 💕

Your Mother & Father did such a great job raising you that you already feel whole. I think that's why you're OK with not needing further contact. Bravo to you all!