When your DNA reveals a family secret.

BirthParentFinder works with clients from all walks of life, and when we take on a DNA case,

we analyze your matches to build out your family tree. Family trees are as unique as an individual and sometimes they come with a family secret.

This month alone we had 3 of those family secrets revealed after having our clients take an AncestryDNA test. These secrets were that our clients were born of inter-family relationships, which is more common than one may think.

So, if you’ve ever taken an AncestryDNA test, for example, and have had this pop up:

That is a major clue that an inter-family relationship may be in play. This means that your DNA matches are related to you on both sides of your family tree – meaning on your maternal and paternal sides. This type of clue requires additional analysis.

Our genealogists are skilled at being able to figure out these connections, which can be obvious in the DNA. One of the tools we use is a GEDmatch tool called “Are Your Parents Related”. By downloading your DNA results and uploading to GEDmatch, we can use this tool to determine if you’re a product of an inter-family relationship. This is a situation that must be handled with the utmost sensitivity for the well-being of all parties involved. Whether it’s a parent/child relationship, or a sibling relationship, we can make the determination of what we’re looking at and how it figures into your family tree.

For example, one thing most don’t understand is that when you do get a positive hit on the “Are Your Parents Related” tool, you need to multiply the cM amount by 4. So for example, one client had a positive hit of 636cM. By multiplying that by 4, we were able to determine his parents were full siblings to each other.

When we take the step of informing the client of this information, our founder and CEO Jay Rosenzweig makes that call. Jay has years of experience working in this field, and knows the delicacy of speaking to the family about these relationships. One can be met with denial, trauma, fear, or genuine upset at the idea of this being revealed. This is why hiring BirthParentFinder is important if you suspect such a relationship in your own family tree. These situations are not to be approached with judgement in mind, as inter-family relationships usually are not consensual.