Adoptees who don’t have any knowledge of either one or both of their biological parents have turned to at-home DNA testing kits to find out more about their family history. Do you want to answer some adoption questions of your own? What is the best DNA test kit for adoptees? Where can you get them, and how accurate are they? Keep reading to find the best DNA test for adoptees, which means you can be on your way to finding out more about yourself as soon as possible.
What Will a DNA test for Adoptees Tell Me?
There are so many reasons why adoptees should get a DNA test. You might have a lot of questions concerning your adoption and want to know more about your birth family. For other adoptees, there is absolutely no desire to find out about their birth families.
For adoptees, a DNA testing kit can provide a huge amount of knowledge when it comes to their background and their roots. Here is what you can find out with your DNA testing kit.
Your Ethnic Background – You will be able to learn a whole lot about yourself, including where your ancestors came from, what your cultural background is and how it’s broken up in percentages.
Finding a Relative – with ever-increasing databases, DNA companies are affording more people the luxury of finding family members. From here you can also answer questions about your family tree.
Medical History – many adoptees will have no idea as to their medical histories, which can not only be annoying but also quite dangerous. Getting tested with a DNA testing kit for health will let you know if you might be more prone to various diseases such as Chrome’s, Alzheimer’s or diabetes. From here you can also figure out which genetic conditions might be passed down to your own children.
How Does DNA Testing for Adoptees Work?
DNA testing companies will run your DNA test samples through their database to see if any matches are uncovered as well as finding out how close of a match you are to those matches. This could mean you will find close matches such as siblings, parents, grandparents or cousins, or distant relations like second cousins, great aunts or common ancestors.
AS DNA databases grow the chances of an adoptee finding a close relative also increases, however, most people will find distant cousins with extensive family trees.
Getting your results is pretty simple. All you need to do is select a DNA testing company, order your DNA kit, register with them online, take your saliva sample or cheek swab and send it off to get tested.
From that point, you will need to wait approximately six to twelve weeks depending on the testing company. Your sample will get cross-referenced with others and the labs will pick out certain patterns found in your DNA which are accredited to certain physical, health and ethnic features.
If you do have very similar traits to another person within the database, scientists are then able to compare the two samples and find out whether you are family members.
Getting Your Results
You will get notified as soon as your results are in and will be able to read the report online. Many of these reports will have an ancestry section which will compare your ethnic background to other people’s around the globe and help you see where your ancestors once lived. In addition to this, you might find information regarding your potential medical risks as well as DNA matches found.
If there are potential matches found, the DNA testing company will also be able to tell you how related you are. To further understand this, here are the DNA testing averages:
- Parents and full siblings: 50% shared DNA
- Grandparents and half-siblings 25% shared DNA
- Aunts and uncles and half siblings: 25% shared DNA
- First cousins 6.25% shared DNA
- Second cousins 1.5% shared DNA
The Best DNA Test for Adoptees
#1 MyHeritage
These guys will provide you with everything you need to know and more when it comes to DNA testing. They are a great choice for adoptees as they combine DNA results with family tree analysis. They also offer quick results with competitive pricing and there is a free mobile app on offer as well. MyHeritage has also been a top pick for the best DNA test for Chinese adoptees, the best DNA test for Korean adoptees as well as being the best DNA test for Asian adoptees.
MyHeritage is the top pick for:
For more information read our MyHeritage review here.
Reveal All Your DNA Secrets Now, With MyHeritage DNA Testing Kit
#2 23andMe
One of the top DNA testing brands on the market, 23andMe is constantly working on improving their product. Not only do they help you find out about your ethnic roots, 23andMe also offers you insight into the medical sphere. This means finding out your risk levels of genetic diseases.
With one of the biggest databases around, your 23andMe results will include:
- Ancestry composition
- DNA relative finder
- Maternal and Paternal Haplogroups
- Raw data
- Neanderthal ancestry
- Genetic health risk report
- Wellness report
- Traits report
- Carrier status report
For more information read our 23andMe review here.
Reveal All You DNA Secrets Now, With 23andMe DNA Testing Kit
#3 AncestryDNA
This is one of the most popular choices for people looking into DNA testing, consequently making it one of the best for adoptees to use, because of its large database. With over 7 million matches, this is the largest database on the market right now and is still growing.
Their reports are easy to understand and AncestryDNA tests go above and beyond in that they are continuously updating their results. There is also free shipping as well as numerous online resources you can use.
Some more cool features that are offered by AncestryDNA include:
- Ethnic estimate percentage and regional details
- Deep ancestry (including migration paths from African to modern times)
- Neanderthal DNA
- DNA relative matching
For more information read our AncestryDNA review here.
Reveal All You DNA Secrets Now, With Ancestry.com Testing Kit
#4 Living DNA
Testing 650,000 genetic markers around 80 geographic regions, Living DNA is another popular choice for the best DNA for adoptees. It is available worldwide and one of the coolest things they offer is the ability to make your ancestry into a table-top book. That is one of the best conversation starters around.
Collaborating with leading scientists and academics you also have visual tools to help you grasp your ancestral roots. The great thing about Living DNA is that it couples your mother’s line and father’s line with ancient history, which is cool if this is something you want to find out about. Also, if you suspect you come from the UK or Ireland, there are breakdowns of regions of origins for these countries with many more to come.
For more information read our Living DNA review here.
#5 HomeDNA
With a simple DNA testing process, there is a lot to look forward to when it comes to HomeDNA testing. You will have a detailed look at some of your ancestors’ movements over the past years as well as the opportunity of having a skincare analysis done as well. There is free shipping, but the test itself can be expensive. They have 450 geographic regions covered with 80,000 genetic markers checked.
A few things we didn’t like about HomeDNA is that they do not update their results as time goes on and new research is uncovered and you won’t have any tips on further understanding your DNA test results.
For more information read our HomeDNA review here.
DNA Testing Suggestions
Now that you know what the best DNA testing kits for adoptees are, there are a few more suggestions we have to which will make your research that much easier.
- Consider the information you want to learn – some people would like to connect to possible family members, whilst others have no desire to do so. Work out if this is something you want, or if you really want to find out more about your ancestors and ethnic background. From there you will be able to make a clear cut decision as to which DNA company best suits you.
- Don’t feel pressured to connect – just because a possible match has been found, do not feel as though you have to turn on the feature of finding relatives. Mull it over. Just because you don’t want to connect today, doesn’t mean you will feel the same way in the future.
- Don’t be discouraged – just because there might not be any matches at the moment, doesn’t at all meat there won’t be any in the future. Many DNA testing companies keep their users updated and will let you know if this occurs. With DNA testing exploding in popularity and databases growing, so are your chances of finding relatives.
- Take more than one test – If you have been tested and placed in a particular database, this doesn’t mean that your relative has used the same testing company. For this reason, it is best to take a few of these DNA tests and grow your potential for discovering matches.
- Remember to stay realistic – it’s quite easy to start believing that you might meet a long lost brother or sister, or even your parents. Although this might happen, chances are still quite low at the moment. Rather be happy with the possibility that you might be able to discover and connect with distant relatives. This will uncover a world of information about your other family members and even give you the ability to tracing your family tree.
The Bottom Line
Finding out about ancestral roots is something really important to adoptees. Whether you’re interested in discovering possible relatives or not, finding out about your ethnic background will certainly be able to provide you comfort.
Additionally, with DNA testing technology rapidly advancing, there are other useful things you can find out about yourself such as possible genetic health risks and which of those you could pass on to your children.
Understanding your DNA will help you understand where you come from and with DNA testing kits, finding out this information is now easier than ever before. What are you waiting for?