The Power of DNA Testing: Helping My Mom Find Her Birth Family & Her Place in This World by Ella Paynter

In the past few years, more than 12 million people have taken DNA tests. In 2014, I purchased a kit for my mom in the hopes of finding her birth parents. After several weeks of waiting, she received hundreds of genetic matches.

I obsessively sorted through the information, determined to find out who her mom and dad were. The next year was spent doing research and making calls. I realized that I’d also be finding my family.

I flew up to New York to look through more records. There, I met a lady who offered to help. I told her my mom’s story, including how her last name was Miller on her birth certificate and how she remembers falling out of a window when she was small.

Back home, I soon got a message with a newspaper clipping about my mom’s fall out of a window. It had her name and, most importantly, her mom’s name. I quickly did a Google search and found her mom’s obituary. It had the names of my mom’s half siblings. I contacted both my uncle and aunt. We all cried. They had been wanting to find my mother. I contacted the local news and they recorded the reunion. 

My mom had finally found her family. And, I got to see my mom finally find her place in this world.