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Your Family History and DNA Testing - An Adoptee Shares His Thoughts

By , About.com Guide

About.com - Why did you turn to The National Geographic's Genographic Project:
Dan: "I heard about it during one of the Chapter 1 Adoptee meetings and it seemed like a good way to verify my ancestry since I haven't had contact with my blood family. On my non-id there is a lot about my blood mom but little about my blood dad and the agency says there isn't much on him in the rest of the record, including his name. I don't know how much of it I can trust."
About.com - What are your goals?:
Dan: "I want to confirm that I do have some Welsh in me and to define what my ancestry is on my blood dad's side since my non-id just says "Welsh nationality but other nationality was not known" I'm not sure I can believe the Welsh part though."
About.com - What are you hoping to find about your family? :
Dan: "Knowing this will be a link to my past that I currently don't have. There are just enough people who seem to find their non-id is adjusted or even falsified that I don't know what I can believe and this will be a way to have a bit of the truth and to share this information with my son since I can't give him an honest answer about our ancestry."
About.com - Will this fill in some blanks that your search has left open?:
Dan: "Definitely. Knowing where I came from and being able to tie myself to a past culture and history is a big thing. Most people know in passing so they don't seem to think about it a lot. My non-id says I am of Norwegian descent on my blood mom's side and I can see that in myself but there is a missing half. While this won't replace the hope that I will get to meet my blood parents one day, it provides another piece to the puzzle of me."
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