Unexpected DNA Results: When a Parent Isn't Who You Thought
DNA tests regularly reveal unknown siblings, adoptions and different biological parents. How to confirm what the results mean, take care of yourself, and decide what to do next.
Adoption & Unknown Parents
Adoptions, orphans, guardianships and DNA surprises: finding birth families and parents the records don't name.
Finding Birth Family: Adoption Research with Records and DNA
How adoptees and their descendants can search for birth family using original birth certificates, court records, registries and, most powerfully, DNA.
Orphans, Guardianships and the Orphan Trains
Children who lost a parent often left a trail of court, orphanage and placement records. How to find guardianships, apprenticeships, orphanage records and orphan train placements.
Other topics
Getting Started 21Census Records 15Birth, Marriage & Death Records 15Church Records 11Cemeteries & Burials 2Newspapers & Obituaries 3Land & Property Records 7Wills, Probate & Court Records 13Tax Records 3Military Records 5Immigration & Naturalization 12DNA & Genetic Genealogy 9Libraries & Archives 8Research in the Old Country 10African American Research 2Heritage Communities 5Adoption & Unknown Parents 3Research Methods & Evidence 30Brick Walls 11Organizing Your Research 7Online Sites & Family Trees 11