Your Story. Your Hope. Community Help.

We connect people impacted by adoption, assisted reproduction, NPEs, DNA surprises, and misattributed parentage experiences (MPE) with people with experience working with these issues.

Our heart is to help anyone impacted by an MPE, genetic identity issues, or loss of genetic continuity. We understand shock, feelings of grief, abandonment, betrayal, identity crisis, shame, anxiety, and depression (to name a few..) that often manifest a DNA discovery. Our experience is that the community shares commonalities, but also differences.

Some people with an MPE have miraculous bonding with their new families while others face rejection. Still yet, there are those whose family members have passed away and others where DNA tests resulted in only finding out you have a different parent, but no leads toward who it is. The journey for people with an MPE is marked with ambiguous loss and the search for self. We have experience in this journey extensively and too, know the ups and downs and everything in between. 

Together, it’s our hope to help the community in whatever stage of the process they’re currently in, through mental health education and referrals to people with experience in these areas. We list genetic counselors, coaches, and licensed therapeutic counselors. We know each person processes their adoption, donor conception, NPE, and MPE differently and needs change over time. We want to provide access to as many different tools as possibly to assist you with your healing process. Make an informed decision about the type of help you seek. Please read our Fact Sheet on the difference between Mentors, Coaches, and Therapists. Right to Know offers support for the constellation of people impacted by adoption, NPEs, and assisted reproduction as well as a mentor program. The RTK Mentor Program will pair you with someone who’s had a similar experience who is a further along in their healing journey who can walk beside you and listen and offer advice. 

Everyone has a fundamental right to know their genetic identity but talking about unique conceptions with children (and adults) can be difficult for parents. We are creating a series of TIME TO TELL informational sheets to assist parents in talking to their children about being donor-conceived, adopted, or the product of a non-paternal event.

email [email protected] if you’d like to order printed copies our Time to Tell series about how to tell children they are donor-conceived or adopted.

Right to Know conducted a survey and found that 39% of people with an MPE sought help from a licensed mental health professional but 57% felt their therapist did not have sufficient training in MPE-related issues to assist them. We now offer courses with continuing education credit hours specifically develop to educate therapists on donor conception, adoption, non-paternal events, late discovery, treatment modalities, identity, and much more.

A website with educational classes for the public on topics related to DNA surprises and misattributed parentage as well as continuing education clock hour courses for mental health professionals to learn how to better assist people with an MPE

Call our MPE hotline to chat with someone who’s had a misattributed parentage experience and to receive help with MPE-related resources: be paired with a mentor, identify genetic family, connect with support groups, find a therapist…

**If you are thinking about suicide or worried about a friend, please call 800-273-8255 for immediate confidential support or dial 911.***

hotline_MPE

THREE COMMUNITIES IMPACTED BY LOSS OF GENETIC CONTINUITY & GENETIC IDENTITY ISSUES

  • Non-Paternal Event (NPE) – product of an extramarital affair, tryst, rape, assault, or other sexual encounter that results in hidden, undisclosed, or unknown paternity;
  • Assisted Reproduction – conceived via a gamete provider (sperm and/or egg), donor-deceived or birth via embryo donation or surrogate and raised by non genetic parent(s)
  • Adoption – raised by non genetic parent(s) either formally or informally from a newborn placement, orphaned, foster care, foundling, black-market baby, stepchild, or hidden origins.

(the above is ordered by probable frequency of occurrence)

What’s an MPE (Misattributed Parentage Experience)

Misattributed parentage is a term used by professionals for decades and is inclusive of everyone who has a DNA surprise and discovers an adult that your perceived genealogy is incorrect from an NPE, Late Discovery Adoption (LDA), or Late Discovery Donor Conception (LDDCP).

Reach out today by filling out the form below!

***If you are thinking about suicide or worried about a friend, please call 800-273-8255 for immediate confidential support or dial 911 or 988.***

Do you have questions? Get in touch with someone who can help today.