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Adoption success stories

From ISOGG Wiki

DNA testing has revolutionised the search process for adoptees wishing to identify their biological family. This page is an attempt to collate some of the success stories.

Autosomal DNA success stories

Early Y-DNA success stories

These articles were originally published on the main ISOGG website and predate the availability of advanced Y-chromosome testing, autosomal DNA testing and the large DNA databases which have transformed adoptee searches.

Chris Scott's parents never told him that he was adopted. Chris discovered his adoption papers one day, and after recovering from the resulting shock, decided not to confront his mother. After his parents passed away, Chris decided to search for his birth family. Through the kindness of strangers, he had the names of his birth parents. He located and contacted his birth mother's family, but was met with obstacles in locating his birth father. After hiring a private investigator, it was discovered that the birth father's name was fabricated. So Chris turned to DNA testing. Siblingship tests confirmed that Chris's siblings were related to him, but Y chromosome DNA tests ruled out his birth mother's husband as his genetic father. Chris has strong evidence as to who his birth father actually is, but he still needs the DNA match with the family to provide the proof. He has established DNA surname projects to assist, but is now resigned to being patient until a match turns up. For more on Chris' search, visit his website.

- Contributed by Chris Scott

"Back in 2001 when we first started, I had an e-mail from a gentleman who asked me if DNA could help him, although his surname was not Boone or a variation. He said that when he was 53 years old, his mother told him his biological father was a Naval Lt stationed in FL with the Boone surname, but she had not had any contact with him since then and she had no idea of his ancestry or whereabouts.

I told him we could check his Y-DNA to see if it would match any of our other Boones, and it matched exactly (25/25) with the Thomas Boon-Isle of Wight line that arrived in America in the last decade of the 1600s. He said he was so glad because he always felt different in the family he was raised in and carrying their surname. He took the certificate from Family Tree DNA and presented it to the judge when he legally had his name changed to Boone a few months afterward.

We also had another gentleman with a different surname. He said his father was adopted as an orphaned infant and his name was changed. As an older gentleman, he was told of the circumstances and he wanted to know if DNA could help prove if he was a Boone. His Y-DNA did prove that he was a Boone because he matched exactly (37/37) with a couple more of our participants that had their ancestry researched back to the early 1700's in Antrim, Ireland. One of those other matches was also able to connect Mr. Boone to his early ancestors back in Pennsylvania."

- Contributed by Dell Boone Ariola - Administrator for the Boone DNA Project

"I had a man with a Scottish name ask to take a 12 marker Y-DNA test in the Mock group. The man said that his family lived on a farm near a Mock and that his mother married this Mock after he was born. He had heard rumors and accusations since he was a child that this Mock who became his step-father was actually his birth father and he wanted to confirm or deny the rumors. He told me that if he was a Mock, he would be descended from a particular line. He said that if the test proved that he was actually a Mock, he would change his name to Mock. After receiving the results of the test, we found that even with only 12 markers, he matched his predicted Mock line 12/12."

- Contributed by Doug Mauck - Administrator for the Mock DNA Project

See also