When the DNA Test Reveals Too Much
This genetic counselor helps people cope with family surprises
It started as an innocent search. Lynn Scott’s husband was adopted at birth, and after he passed away, she wanted to help their son find his paternal biological grandparents. So Scott and her son spit into test tubes and shipped them off to FamilyTreeDNA. A match with a second cousin eventually led them to her son’s paternal grandfather and a half-aunt.
However, several other matches popped up that weren’t from her husband’s side, but Scott didn’t recognize them from her family either. “I thought, ‘I know all my second cousins, and I don’t know who these people are,’” she says. “I started putting together bits and pieces and realized there was something I was missing.”
Scott’s brother had tested his DNA separately through AncestryDNA, so the family compared their results to figure out what was going on. They discovered that Scott and her brother were actually half-siblings.
It turns out that the man who raised Scott — who passed away in 2003 — was not her biological father. Finding out she wasn’t genetically related to her father was heartbreaking, she says. “It felt like I lost him all over again.”
More DNA sleuthing led Scott to the man she believes to be her biological father —…
