Our Address:
12200 Fairhill Road, Floor A3
Fairhill Partners Collaborative Campus
Cleveland, OH 44120

DNA Discovery Group - General Discussion Mtg (Virtual)

Tuesday, October 5, 2021
8:00 pm10:00 pm
Online using Google Meet

This General Discussion Meeting has been specifically created for individuals with DNA discoveries and surprises.

If you have either found family using commercial DNA testing or been found by family who used commercial DNA testing (examples of commercial DNA testing are Ancestry.com, Family Tree DNA, 23&Me, My Heritage, etc.) then this is the group for you. You do not need to have a formal adoption connection to be in this group, but you do need to have a DNA discovery for this group to be relevant to you. Examples include individuals with a known connection to adoption such as birth/first parents, grandparents, and siblings, adoptees, donor-conceived individuals; also, individuals with unexpected parentage results among those not adopted such as unknown child discovery, unexpected niece, nephew or cousin discovery, individuals discovering they are donor-conceived or adopted (late discovery adoptees); anyone who has who found unknown siblings. international adoptees connecting to family including cousins, unexpected grandparent discoveries, and the many other scenarios that are surprising folks with today's widespread commercial DNA testing.

Why is this group needed?
Finding family, or being found - whether you are looking or not - is a major life event. It can upend long-held beliefs about ourselves and challenge the very things that make us feel like, well..., ourselves. Things like biological parentage, ethnicity, religion, birth order, just to name a few. There are also a myriad of reactions from those who have either unexpectedly found us or to the news that we have found them. Sometimes those reactions are not what we had hoped for, or what we anticipated. It can all be very overwhelming. This group will focus on supporting each other during and after such DNA discoveries. These are not one time events; they are lifelong journeys.

What is the scope of this group?
This peer support group is not meant to replace conventional therapy or to delve into the technical aspects of understanding your DNA results, but rather serve as additional support on your personal journey to integrate your DNA findings into your life. Through listening and sharing with your peers, the hope is you will get the support you need to face the challenges that your DNA discoveries have presented.

This specific meeting on September 2 will have a special topic: The Importance of Sibling Relationships
Siblings are an important part of our lives, whether through adoption or birth. How do we foster the relationship with newly found siblings or half-siblings? How do we form these new sibling relationships with adults who are strangers? How do we address these new sibling relationships with the siblings with whom we were raised? How do we nurture both – yet sometimes competing – sibling relationships?

This meeting will be a virtual meeting facilitated by Becky and Oliver. Our Virtual General Discussion Meetings meet via the Google Meet platform (which can be accessed through a home computer/laptop, tablet, or mobile phone) and will require an internet connection or phone data connection.

Pre-registration is required. Click REGISTER NOW, enter the number of attendees, your information, and then click COMPLETE REGISTRATION.

Our General Discussion Meetings with specific topics fill up quickly. Space is limited to ensure a reasonable number of participants to engage in discussion, so please register in advance. We keep a waiting list once we meet the registration limit, so if you are registered and unable to attend, please let us know so we can open that spot up for someone else.

If registration has reached capacity and you would like to be placed on the waiting list, please email Julius Jackson at Julius.jackson@adoptionnetwork.org with the date of the event and a request to be placed on the waiting list. Thank you!