DNA Testing and Adoption
There are thousands of adoptions each year in the United States, and inter-country adoptions accounts for quite a bit of all adoptions. All combined, there are millions of adopted children now living in the United States. Quite often, there comes a time in the lives of both adopted children and their biological parents that they want or need to find each other. Their decision to find each other is varied, but quite often is triggered by some major event in their lives such as marriage or the birth of a child. In modern medicine, the medical history of biological parents is indispensible in the diagnosis and treatment of disease in descendents.
More and more adoptive families and their representatives use DNA testing at various times during the adoption process, because knowing the biological identity of the child that they are adopting, especially through proper relinquishment, will alleviate some of the stress and uncertainty while raising their newly adopted child.
There also exists a DNA Reunion registry where adoptees and their biological parents may register by submitting to a simple DNA test and creating a profile for themselves. This DNA test will produce a 16 marker DNA profile which may be input to the DNA Reunion database to search for any possible matches between a parent and an adopted child. When a genetic match is identified clients are notified. The profile remains in the database for some five years and is compared to all new profiles for possible matches as they are added. After then the subject may renew their subscription if they choose to.
DNA Reunion is an advanced technology based registry that uses the power of DNA to reunite birth parents and adoptees. The technology of DNA facilitates reunification without having any biographical information about the birth relative that the adoptee is searching for.
