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Severance Magazine

NPEs (Not parent expected) & MPEs (Misattributed parentage experience)

by bkjax
New resources will be indicated in green for one month.

Articles

The Death of the Family Secret “Ancestry and other DNA-testing companies are bringing old family secrets to light. These friends are now dealing with the truth about their fathers.”

Letters: ‘My Dad Was Not My Biological Father  “Readers share their experiences receiving surprising results from a genetics test.”

Not All DNA Revelations Produce a Happy Ending  “For growing numbers, the result is rejection, sadness and emotional hurt, and there’s few places to find support”

Surprise DNA Results Are Turning Customer-Service Reps Into Therapists  “How Do You Tell Someone That Her Brother Is Not Her Brother?”

When a DNA Test Shatters Your Identity  How Catherine St Clair discovered the shocking truth that she was an NPE and how she came to create a private Facebook group

When a DNA Test Surprises You “As DNA tests become more inexpensive and popular, people increasingly find that a lifetime of identity can be turned on its head.”

Your Father’s Not Your Father: When DNA Tests Reveal More Than You Bargained For  “Genetic tests are seen as harmless fun. But the secrets they can reveal can split families and leave users traumatised.”

Blogs

NPE and Me

Books

Black Lotus: A Woman’s Search for Racial Identity, by Sil Lai Abrams  “Author and activist Sil Lai Abrams was born to a Chinese immigrant mother and a white American father . . . . At fourteen, the man she knew her entire life as her birth-father divulged that Abrams was not his biological child, but instead the daughter of a man of African descent who didn’t know she existed.”

Exposed by DNA: A Path to Reveal Family Secrets, by K.S. Hopkins  A search for the truth after a DNA test delivers shocking results

Go Ask Your Father: One Man’s Obsession with Finding His Origins Through DNA Testing, by Lennard J. Davis  The “account of one man’s quest to find out the truth about his genetic heritage — and confront the agonizing possibility of having to redefine the first fifty years of his life”

If You Only Knew: Navigating DNA Surprises & The NPE World, by Lezlee Liljenberg   Stories and guidance for those on an NPE/MPE journey.

Inheritance: A Memoir of Genealogy, Paternity, and Love, by Dani Shapiro  After discovering that she was donor-conceived, the acclaimed author has written a deep exploration of identity , bioethics, and the toxicity of family secrets.

The Lost Family: How DNA is Upending Who We Are, by Libby Copeland.

NPE* A Story Guide for Unexpected DNA Discoveries, by Leeanne Hay  The first guidebook about the NPE experience, it’s a resource for people uncovering a new identity, their loved ones, and genealogists who encounter NPEs in a family tree.

The Stranger in My Genes, by Bill Griffeth  After a DNA test delivers a stunning surprise, a genealogy buff “undertakes a quest to solve the mystery of his origins, which shakes his sense of identity.”

The Survivors: A Story of War, Inheritance, and Healing, by Adam Frankel  “A memoir of family, the Holocaust, trauma, and identity, in which Adam Frankel, a former Obama speechwriter, must come to terms with the legacy of his family’s painful past and discover who he is in the wake of a life-changing revelation about his own origins.”

What They Never Told Us: True Stories of Family Secrets and Hidden Identities Revealed, by Gail Lukasik. The stories of ordinary people who made extraordinary, life-changing discoveries about their parentage and/or race and ethnicity that fractured their identities and prompted two fundamental questions: Who are we? And what exactly is family? 

Who Even Am I Anymore: A Process Journal for the Adoptee, Late Discovery Adoptee, Donor Conceived, NPE, and MPE Community, by Eve Sturges, MA, LMFT  An indispensable resource for people who’ve had shocking family discoveries.

Facebook & Other Groups

Adoptees, NPEs, Donor Conceived & Other Genetic Identity Seekers

AmerAsian DNA: A Search for Fathers (DNA Detectives)

The DNA Detectives

DNA NPE Friends

DNA Surprises

Hiraeth Only: Longing for Home

The Mindful NPE

MPE Cross Cultural Connections

MPE Jewish Identity Surprise

NPE Only: After the Discovery

Right To Know 

This MPE Life

Film & Video

Little White Lie  “A personal documentary about the legacy of family secrets, denial, and the power of telling the truth.”

Open Secret  A film by Steve Lickteig that asks the question, “What if everything you knew about yourself was a lie? And everyone knew the truth except you?”

Stories We Tell  Canadian actress and writer Sarah Polley’s exploration of family secrets and her discovery that her dad isn’t her father

Organizations

Coalition for Genetic Truth (CGT)   An organization that aims to educate and advocate for adoptees, NPEs, donor conceived people and others fighting for their genetic truth

NPE Friends Fellowship  A non-profit organization that “provides emotional, educational, and practical support to those who have discovered that one or both parents were not their biological parent(s).”

 Right To Know   An advocacy and education organization that believes laws related to genetic information, identity, and family dynamics need to be  updated to reflect the changing technology and social dynamics of the times

Podcasts & Radio

DNA Surprises

Everything’s Relative with Eve Sturges

Family Secrets Podcast with Dani Shapiro  

Go Ask Your Father

NPE Stories

Sex, Lies & the Truth 

Therapy and Counseling

Eve Sturges, LMFT: a licensed marriage and family therapist in Los Angeles.

Jodi Klugman-Rabb, LMFT: a licensed marriage and family therapist and creator of Parental Identity Discovery (see NPE Counseling Training below). 

MPE Counseling Collective: group of therapists specializing in best therapeutic practices for the NPE community.

Parental Identity Discovery  Training in a unique and comprehensive approach to working therapeutically with NPEs.

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What’s New on Severance

  • There Was a Secret
  • Should Health Care Professionals Tell the Truth About Paternity?
  • 20 Questions and a World of Stories
  • The Wizard and I
  • Rabbit Holes and Hobbits
  • We Three

After a DNA Surprise: 10 Things No One Wants to Hear

https://www.righttoknow.us

Call Right To Know’s resource hotline to talk with another MPE be paired with a mentor, get resources, or just talk.

Original Birth Certificates to California Born Adoptees

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erHylYLHqXg&t=4s

Search

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Recommended Reading

The Lost Family: How DNA is Upending Who We Are, by Libby Copeland. Check our News & Reviews section for a review of this excellent book about the impact on the culture of direct-to-consumer DNA testing.

What Happens When Parents Wait to Tell a Child He’s Adopted

“A new study suggests that learning about one’s adoption after a certain age could lead to lower life satisfaction in the future.”

Janine Vance Searches for the Truth About Korean Adoptees

“Imagine for a minute that you don’t know who your mother is. Now imagine that you are that mother, and you don’t know what became of your daughter.”

Who’s Your Daddy? The Twisty History of Paternity Testing

“Salon talks to author Nara B. Milanich about why in the politics of paternity and science, context is everything.”

What Separation from Parents Does to Children: ‘The Effect is Catastrophic”

“This is what happens inside children when they are forcibly separated from their parents.”

Truth: A Love Story

“A scientist discovers his own family’s secret.”

Dear Therapist: The Child My Daughter Put Up for Adoption is Now Rejecting Her

“She thought that her daughter would want to meet her one day. Twenty-five years later, that’s not true.”

I’m Adopted and Pro-Choice. Stop Using My Story for the Anti-Abortion Agenda. Stephanie Drenka’s essay for the Huffington Post looks at the way adoptees have made unwilling participants in conversations about abortion.

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@2019 - Severance Magazine

Severance Magazine
  • About
    • About Severance
    • From the Editor
    • Submission Guidelines: How to Contribute
    • Contact Us
  • Articles
    • abandonment
    • Adoption
    • Advocacy
    • DNA & Genetic Genealogy
    • DNA Surprises
    • Donor Conception
    • Family Secrets
    • Genetics & Heredity
    • Interviews & Profiles
    • Late Discovery Adoptees
    • Psychology & Therapy
    • NPEs/MPEs
    • Search & Reunion
  • Essays & Fiction
    • abandonment
    • Adoption
    • DNA surprises
    • Donor Conception
    • NPEs/MPEs
    • Late Discovery Adoptees
    • Search & Reunion
    • Secrets & Lies
  • Short Takes
    • Short Takes: Books
    • Short Takes: Film & Video
    • Short Takes: People, News & Research
    • Short Takes: Podcasts & Radio
  • Self Care & Coping
    • Coping Strategies
    • Self-Care
  • Speak Out
    • Micro-Memoirs
    • Your Video Stories
  • Resources
    • Start Here
    • Abandonment
    • Adoption
    • DNA & Genetic Genealogy
    • Donor Conception
    • Genetics & Heredity
    • Late-Discovery Adoptees
    • NPEs (Not parent expected) & MPEs (Misattributed parentage experience)
    • Psychology & Therapy & Coaching
    • Search & Reunion
    • Secrets & Lies
    • Self-Care
Severance Magazine
  • About
    • About Severance
    • From the Editor
    • Submission Guidelines: How to Contribute
    • Contact Us
  • Articles
    • abandonment
    • Adoption
    • Advocacy
    • DNA & Genetic Genealogy
    • DNA Surprises
    • Donor Conception
    • Family Secrets
    • Genetics & Heredity
    • Interviews & Profiles
    • Late Discovery Adoptees
    • Psychology & Therapy
    • NPEs/MPEs
    • Search & Reunion
  • Essays & Fiction
    • abandonment
    • Adoption
    • DNA surprises
    • Donor Conception
    • NPEs/MPEs
    • Late Discovery Adoptees
    • Search & Reunion
    • Secrets & Lies
  • Short Takes
    • Short Takes: Books
    • Short Takes: Film & Video
    • Short Takes: People, News & Research
    • Short Takes: Podcasts & Radio
  • Self Care & Coping
    • Coping Strategies
    • Self-Care
  • Speak Out
    • Micro-Memoirs
    • Your Video Stories
  • Resources
    • Start Here
    • Abandonment
    • Adoption
    • DNA & Genetic Genealogy
    • Donor Conception
    • Genetics & Heredity
    • Late-Discovery Adoptees
    • NPEs (Not parent expected) & MPEs (Misattributed parentage experience)
    • Psychology & Therapy & Coaching
    • Search & Reunion
    • Secrets & Lies
    • Self-Care
@2019 - Severance Magazine