What is the Best Way to Find Biological Family Members?

The best way to start is by researching descendancy. Let’s say you’re looking for your biological mother or father. When you locate an ancestor, research their offspring. Identify all their children and then their grandchildren until today. Keep working until you get to someone who might be your parent.

What is the Best Way to Find Biological Family Members?
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At this point, even the vaguest information you got from your adopted parents or adoption files might help. Use online directories, obituaries, and ancestry trees to facilitate your people search online and to put unknown family lines together. 

Get in Touch With Living Relatives

Once any living relatives have processed the information you’ve provided, you could be able to convince them to take a DNA test. This will serve to reject or confirm any suspicions you may have.

Think about hiring a professional researcher if you’re struggling. Taking a DNA test with a specialized service is an effective way to find biological family members. Of course, it’s possible that the person you’re trying to track down won’t have taken this test. However, that doesn’t mean all hope is lost. Another close relative may have.

You’ll see your results on your account on the DNA service provider’s website when they are ready. The time it takes for results to be processed varies. While you wait, you could start documenting your biological family. Attach the results to the tree you’re making when you get them.

Don’t Limit Your Options to one Provider

Genealogy experts recommend using more than one provider. All DNA testing companies compare your DNA to that of others, but only in their database. It’s a good idea to upload your file to several sites if doable. If not, and you have the financial means, get tested by many DNA companies, so your results are matched to a vaster pool of possible family members.

How to Interpret DNA Results

To get a full list of your relatives who’ve been tested with a specific provider, open the company’s homepage and click View All or its analogical button. The higher the match on the list, the more DNA you share. Most providers update these lists regularly, so you might get a close match soon if you don’t now.

Beginning with your closest relative, start looking at their family tree. Specific symbols, like green leaves, indicate there is a common ancestor. If you get to a private family tree, you could send a message asking the person to share it.

Getting in touch with your matches is the next step. It’s easier to reach out than you may think. Before doing that, however, there are a few things to consider.

What to be Cautious Of 

Your biological family might not want to be contacted. The DNA match might be incapable of determining your immediate family or birth parents. Finally, other members of your biological family might be in the dark about your birth and adoption.

With all this in mind, it looks like there are many things to think about when you believe you’re ready to reach out to biological family members. For every inspiring story out there, there is at least one disappointing experience. There have even been traumatizing ones.

Be sensitive to family dynamics because any message you send to a possible relative will probably be a big surprise. When sending messages, check for replies regularly because people don’t check their notifications all the time.

Hope for the Best, Prepare for the Worst 

If all goes well, you can look forward to a happy reunion. However, there’s no way of knowing in advance how your search will end. You have resources at your disposal in case you learn your biological relatives don’t want to connect or your reunion has been less than perfect.

Community groups like NPE Gateway, Donor Conception Network, DNA Secrets, and NPE Fellowship can help in many ways, including if you’ve discovered an unknown parent. They can offer support, guidance, and sympathy. Seeing as your adoptive family will also be affected, representatives of these organizations can consult you on how to approach them in a suitable way.