Severance is a magazine and community for people who’ve been separated from biological family.
It’s for anyone who’s fallen out of the family tree and made a hard landing, who’s learned they’re not quite who they thought they were.
It’s for conversations about what it feels like to have no genetic connection to the families we grew up with.
It’s about adjusting to shifting realities or living with the unknown.
Severance from family may occur due to adoption, abandonment, or an NPE (non-parental event or not parent expected) — a term pertaining to misattributed parentage resulting from situations such as formal or informal adoption, kidnapping, undisclosed step-parent adoption, paternity fraud, donor-assisted conception, nonconsensual sex, and, most commonly, an extramarital affair. It describes both the situation and the person affected. While an NPE may refer to misattributed maternity, more often it pertains to misattributed paternity — to those whose biological fathers are not the men they believed to be their fathers.
While each circumstance brings unique concerns, those of us who have been severed from family in one of these ways have much in common:
- Our birth certificates, medical histories, and genealogies may be fiction.
- We seek the right others are granted at birth — to know where we come from.
- A DNA test may have delivered a life-rattling surprise, and we struggle to absorb the shock of discovery.
- We might be conflicted about whether to search for and contact biological family or have no clue how to begin.
- Or having searched, we may encounter obstacles as we navigate the complexities of reunion.
- If our searches have so far been fruitless, we face uncertainty, even despair.
- And if biological relatives close the door to a relationship, or worse, deny that they are in fact relatives, feelings of rejection may be intense.
- Almost universally, we have concerns about identity and authenticity.
- There’s loss and grief, and, for many, even trauma.
- We likely have the same questions: How? Why? What if? And above all, Who am I now?
Here you’ll find:
- Strategies from experts about issues related to these shared feelings, questions, and experiences
- Articles about genetic genealogy, search and reunion, and ways of coping with the emotional fallout of separation
- News, research, and reviews of pertinent books, films, and podcasts
- Profiles and interviews
- A spotlight on advocacy
- Resources for learning more
- Stories, videos, and essays from people in the same (or a similar) boat
- Information to share with others so they’ll better understand our experiences and feelings
But most important, you’ll find a place to share your truth. Those who never have steered this particular rocky boat may find our concerns puzzling and wonder why we feel at sea. But despite lacking personal experience, they often aren’t shy about speaking for us or silencing us. That’s why Severance doesn’t speak for you. It won’t give advice (except from experts) or tell you there’s a right way to feel. It asks you to speak out and tell us your stories.
Allies are welcome. Join the conversation. Click here to find out how.
Follow us on Twitter @severancemag, and if you’re an adoptee, an adult abandoned as a child, an NPE, are donor-conceived, or a parent or sibling of any of the foregoing, join our private Facebook discussion group.