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Match DNA to trace parents, siblings, children ... even abroad

DNA ADOPTION NETWORKING Douglas R. Chalke Executive Director, Sunrise Adoption, North Vancouver, B.C. February 2008 With advances in computer technology and DNA science, it seemed likely that a way would be found for the far-flung children of China to find their birth families. That day seemed far off in the future. However that day is here now, and it has arrived 20 years before I expected it. A new kind of internet website provides the means for adopting parents of children adopted from China to discover if their child has a sibling, half-sibling, cousin or other relative adopted anywhere in the world. In addition, birth parents in China will be able to search for their biological child who has been adopted by a family living somewhere in the world. While China adoptions are the largest example of what is now possible, it applies to every adoption in the world today. I don't think it is an overstatement to say that this is the most startling development in the field of adoption information in the past 25 years. There are two new kinds of sites in particular that seem useful to the adoption community. They are interesting because both kinds are the first of a new genre of websites. The first are DNA social networking sites; the second are primarily gene-decoding sites. 1. DNA Adoption Networking DNA Adoption Networking is a part of a new internet service the New York Times has called Zygotic Social Networking. These networking services permit users to build a social network around shared genetic material. Similar to Facebook, users are able to post photos, update their profiles, blog, and send messages to each other. More importantly, for adoptive families they facilitate searches for relatives and allow members to compare genetic makeup. Basically, you sign up with the service, do a cheek swab, send it in, and a portion of your genetic makeup gets compared to others on the databank. You or someone else (somewhere in the world) can then click on a map that shows a marker for every other member around the world who shares genetic markers found in your DNA profile. Perhaps even more amazing is that the creators of these sites believe that we are only at the beginning of their abilities and usefulness. Experts believe that every new discovery in the field of genetics will provide the users with new information about their identities. Who Would Use This Service? A broad spectrum of the adoption community will be able to make use of these sites: (i) Biological parents who placed a child for adoption (or perhaps abandoned a child) can search for their child worldwide with one registration. (ii) When adopted children become teenagers or young adults, they often want to find out more about their roots. While they may not find their birth parents immediately, they may locate other relatives. In order to identify siblings, half-siblings, cousins or grandparents, it will be necessary for one of their biological parents to register on the site (At this time you need a parent to also register in order to say definitively that two relatives are siblings). Those relatives may turn up immediately or a decade or two later as new relatives register on the site. (iii) Adopted Adults. Life is long, and at some point when adopted children have become adults, they frequently want to look for their roots. While adoptive parents today usually explain to their children that they were adopted, that has not always been the case, nor is it universally true. As a result, individuals registering on these sites, who had no idea that they were adopted, may be in for a surprise. (iv) Adoptive parents who want to find siblings, birth parents, or other relatives of their adopted child can register their child. Parents registering children over 13 require the child's agreement to do this. In fact, it appears that inquisitive adopted teenagers could likely register themselves if they have access to $149. (v) Adoption Agencies may want to include information about DNA Adoption Networking in their adoption education programs. It's a reality check for parents who state they want to adopt, but never want anything to do with the birth family and that's why they want to adopt overseas. At some point their child may register and find relatives in other countries. Not everyone involved in adoption will want to participate in this worldwide experiment in genealogical research. While most adopted children want to know who their biological parents are, this is not always true. However, for those who do want to know where their child is, or who their biological parent is, these websites are already producing results and matches. An ABC News video clip, which is accessed by a link on the GeneTree.com home page, includes an interview with an adopted adult who only knew his birth date and place, and subsequently found relatives in several parts of the world. Since DNA Adoption Networking will essentially provide a worldwide adoption reunion registry, people should think carefully before registering. While anyone can use one of these sites, special precautions need to be taken when they are used by the adoption community. Some individuals may wish to obtain counselling before registering. Adoption Reunion Registries are located in most jurisdictions in North America and they frequently provide counselling to the parties both before and after a reunion. What makes these sites so different from the sites described next is that no genetic information is given back to you (the participant). 2. DNA Gene Decoding Sites The second type of service now on the web that will impact adoptions is the ability to decode your child's DNA. Adoptive families will find this site useful for many reasons. Your child's DNA is decoded, providing you with much valuable information. The experience is simultaneously unsettling, illuminating and empowering. While these decoding sites provide the opportunity for DNA Adoption Networking, that seems to be a by-product of their main function, which is to decode your DNA. For the adoption world, services like this have extraordinary implications, including: (i) In the majority of adoptions in the world, there is little or no information about the birth father. This includes domestic adoptions, as well as adoptions from other parts of the world. Decoding your child's DNA will provide you with significant information about the birth father and the birth mother. The websites claim they allow you to look 20 or 40 years into the future at significant DNA markers that will affect your child's health (such as pre-disposition to certain diseases). (ii) Once registered with some sites, you will be automatically advised over the next 10, 20 or 30 years, as medical science makes new discoveries and advances. (iii) In some situations DNA decoding may become available as part of pre-adoption medical and social information about the child. Currently, parents receive limited medical information, photographs, and sometimes a video. Perhaps in the future a DNA swab will become part of this pre-adoption information package. (iv) As countries become more selective about whom may adopt their children (such as China) will they want DNA tests of the adopting parents? Adopting Parents already have to supply medical and lab reports as part of a dossier for international adoption. Are DNA reports next? These websites will bring great opportunities, but also great quandaries. We will no longer have the problem of not knowing, but instead have the burden of whether we want to know in the first place. We will know whether our children are predisposed to certain traits or talents, athletics, music or languages, and we'll encourage them to pursue certain paths. I have recently described these websites to clients, friends and relatives. It is interesting how many people have said, "But do you really want to know this information?". Clearly, some people would rather not know and just let the future unfold. Cautions Be careful what you wish for. By going down this road, you may be opening a Pandora's Box. In short, we are on the brink of scientific and technological breakthroughs that are going to change adoption in a way that has never happened before. Please consider the following: Privacy: What is more personal than your DNA? Each of these websites has a privacy statement. Please read these before registering. It is important to understand what privacy protection is offered and whether you can set your own level of privacy on the site. Also keep in mind that the world doesn't always work perfectly. If you put information on the internet, there is a chance of it getting loose by accident or otherwise. Concerns: There are social, moral and ethical issues involved in registering your or your child's DNA on a website. Before registering on any site prospective applicants should read the China Adoption DNA Project website where the site creators have considered the implications of parents taking the step of trying to find biological relatives in this way. Please read and think about these issues before registering on a DNA Adoption Networking site: issues to think about. Second Test: If you join one of these websites and find a match that is important to you, please confirm it with a second and more formal DNA test. An article in the October Journal of Science warned that popular do-it-yourself DNA tests could produce incomplete results. Early Days: These websites have just started up. It will take time for enough families to register worldwide for there to be many matches of close relatives. Keep your expectations low for now and check in from time to time. Men and Women: Men can get a lot more out of DNA testing than women because they inherit both an x and y chromosome. For women to get the same results, they need to supply a sample from a close male relative like a brother or father. Language: The scientific words and terminology used on these websites can be challenging. Some sites have a glossary or definition section. That's a good place to start in understanding this field of research. Registering: A recent survey of adopting parents (by the China Adoptions DNA Project) found that while the adoption community is keenly interested in learning more about how a DNA database could benefit their children and families, the overwhelming majority of parents currently do not know enough about it or are not comfortable enough with what they do know to take the next step and join a database. I encourage adoptive families to spend time on the DNA websites listed at the end of this article. Review their DNA science lessons, read the FAQ's and watch the videos. You will learn a lot. Of course, if you're only registered on one site, it reduces the possibility of matches. Perhaps all the members of the adoption triad in the world who want to share this information should register on only one of these sites , or on a site yet to be created specifically for the adoption community. In the future there will undoubtedly be more of these kinds of websites, and their usefulness will advance as science advances. If you do register with one of the websites listed below, let us know about your experience with it. Websites to Visit A. DNA ADOPTION NETWORKING SITES 1. www.GeneTree.com This service: operates world-wide; is easy to understand and easy to use; is free (except for the DNA swab collection kit $99 - $149); matches relatives (such as cousins), which greatly increases the chances of finding out more information about the child's family of origin. The site is part of a worldwide genealogical and genetic research project. Anyone who joins is a participant in this project. (Unfortunately, this information is not made clear on the website until a registrant orders a DNA swab kit and is presented with a 6-page contract to sign.) Parents who don't like the trade-off of being part of a research project may want to pass on registering. Others will be happy to be part of a DNA research project that also provides the opportunity for free DNA Adoption Networking. This site is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, which is already known as the largest center of genealogical research in the world. Clearly, they want to make it bigger. When you order your DNA swab kit ($149) you will be asked to sign a 6-page contract. Read it carefully. It has some interesting terms, including: you are a participant in a research study; no genetic information is provided back to you; you can withdraw from the study at any time and have your information deleted; while this site will match two voluntary users of the site together if they want, the site will not get involved in providing adoption or paternity information (that it may learn of) to anyone. The website has a "Facebook" aspect to it, except you are networking with people you share similar DNA with around the world instead of your chosen friends. Participants set their own level of privacy on this site. In other words, you can register your DNA and then set privacy parameters as to the disclosure of information and whether you want contact with other members of your extended family. Of course, in addition to privacy concerns, the idea of adoptive families around the world registering their DNA on a master database certainly has a "Big Brother" feel to it. As a result, this service may not appeal to everyone. 2. www.dnaancestry.com This site is part of www.ancestry.com and allows you to use DNA to search for ancestors, clans and by surname groups. www.ancestry.com is an established genealogical research site also headquartered in Utah. It already has a user base of 15 million, of which 3 million have posted their searchable family trees. It is the internet's largest family-history archive. The test kit costs $149 to $179, depending on how sophisticated you want the results to be. 3. www.familytreedna.com This website claims to have the largest DNA databases in the field of Genetic Genealogy (178,000 records). Their website includes tutorials on the use of your DNA. It also has a DNA user's forum which has posts from adoptees who have had varying degrees of success at finding relatives. The tests cost $149 to $199. 4. www.a-chinadnaproject.org Although this site is not yet operational as a registry, it does have interesting things to say. It is a site worth reading and thinking about the points raised there. In addition to searching for relatives, a second, equally important mission of the website, is to create a voluntary, anonymous DNA database that will provide information that could benefit all Asians of Chinese descent. The China Adoptions DNA project states numerous times on this website that it is not yet underway since it has no funding. It worries about the costs to parents and the cost of providing the service. Some adopting parents will want to wait and see if this adoption-oriented website becomes operational because of the additional safeguards that have been created for the adoption community. 5. www.tracegenetics.com This site has an extensive FAQ section that will teach the reader a lot about this area of science in understandable language. It offers testing for both the child's maternal and paternal lineage. It then issues a report based on the percentage of ancestry from each of the world's biogeographical areas. This site claims to have the largest Native American DNA database in the world. This website will also provide you with custom DNA projects. You can tailor your genomic requests to what you want. B. DNA GENE DECODING SITES 6. www.23andme.com This is a web-based service that helps you understand your DNA. Send in a sample of your child's saliva and see how the decoded genes indicate your child's future. This site is partly funded by Google. The cost for a DNA analysis is $999, and you will receive a report analyzing almost 600,000 DNA checkpoints. At this time their service is only available in the USA, Europe and Canada, although it will expand in the future to other countries. In response to my question to this site as to whether adopting parents could use it to have the DNA decoded for a child proposed to them for adoption, the response was "Our service is not intended to be used for genetic screening purposes." __________________________________________________ Douglas R. Chalke is executive director of Sunrise Adoption agency in North Vancouver, British Columbia. ©2008 Sunrise Family Services Society Published at Family Helper, www.familyhelper.net, on Mar. 24, 2008 Previously published online at Sunrise Adoption as "DNA Adoption Networking".

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