Laura Searches For Her Lost Siblings Using DNA | DNA Family Secrets Season 03

Added: 2026-04-29

[00:00:03][music] Many of us have questions about who we really are.

[00:00:11][music] >> It feels like a mystery that we're trying to solve.

[00:00:15]>> There's a power of me missing.

[00:00:18]>> Night and day questioning who am I?

[00:00:21]>> Wouldn't it be [music] amazing at my age to find out?

[00:00:26]Now, amazing [music] advances in DNA technology means questions can be answered for the very [music] first time.

[00:00:34]>> So, with any luck, somebody will have taken a DNA test.

[00:00:40]A wrong was done to [music] her. It is my duty to make right what she couldn't.

[00:00:46]>> This is the perfect time for the secret to end.

[00:00:53]Working with [music] leads in geneticists and genealogologists, we're going to help people unlock lifechanging secrets.

[00:01:02]>> So DNA [music] is really the only way that we can go >> through the power of a DNA test.

[00:01:09]>> The things you can do now.

[00:01:11]>> Our DNA [music] doesn't lie.

[00:01:14]>> So we have your results back.

[00:01:17]>> But are we ready [music] for the truth?

[00:01:35]40% of children on the adoption register have a disability or special need and take on [music] average twice as long to be adopted.

[00:01:46]38-year-old Laura was adopted in the 1980s and now wants [music] to use DNA to find out more about her biological family.

[00:02:01]>> Hey, Laura. Hi.

[00:02:03]>> How are you? You're all right.

[00:02:04]>> Yeah, good, thank you.

[00:02:05]>> It's so lovely to meet you.

[00:02:06]>> You, too.

[00:02:07]>> How you feeling?

[00:02:08]>> Excited, but a bit apprehensive. All over the place, really.

[00:02:11]>> Yeah. talk me through what it is that you're hoping to find out.

[00:02:15]>> So, I guess this is unveiling the truth about my biological family, whatever that is.

[00:02:21]>> So, what what do you know, Laura?

[00:02:24]>> I know that uh yeah, I was adopted and given up in the hospital from birth. I went into foster care for a period of around sort of 6 months, I think it was, and then was adopted by my family. And all the information that you do have that's come from your adoptive mother.

[00:02:41]Your mother.

[00:02:42]>> Yes. So that's come from my mom who you know got that from social workers mainly.

[00:02:47]>> So you were born with a condition.

[00:02:49]>> Basically when I was born I had um different disabilities. So I had my hand which didn't grow and develop properly.

[00:02:57]I had quite a disfigured face. Doesn't look like it does now. So I've had a lot of reconstructive surgery.

[00:03:03]>> Have you? I was told that alcohol, which was consumed throughout the pregnancy, might have been the reason that I was born with these disabilities and and differences.

[00:03:13]>> But that was kind of ruled out.

[00:03:15]>> How does it sit with you? How does it make you feel?

[00:03:18]>> I think there's moments where you sit back and think I was on a trajectory for quite a different life. I genuinely believe probably one of the kindest things she did was give me up for adoption.

[00:03:32]just always felt [music] really lucky to be in the family that I was in.

[00:03:38][music] I would say my parents went totally the extra mile to be like no matter what you can [music] do what other people can do.

[00:03:50]I always [music] loved music and I think the decision was made that I would do the violin and they had to adapt [music] the bow so that I was able to hold it so that I could play the violin. I don't remember [music] being different until more [music] recently. I've never really been that interested about finding out lots about myself.

[00:04:15]I just thought, you know, I've been adopted by this family.

[00:04:20]I've had every opportunity you could wish for growing up.

[00:04:26]>> Talk to me about the possibility of having siblings. How much do you know?

[00:04:32]>> So, my mom had certain information when she adopted me from the social worker.

[00:04:37]So, there was a half sibling, I believe, before me, >> right, >> that was also given up for adoption. And apparently there was a brother that came after me.

[00:04:46]>> So there's every possibility that you've got two siblings you've never met.

[00:04:50]>> Yeah.

[00:04:51]>> Yeah.

[00:04:52]>> I just want to find things out about my birth family.

[00:04:57]>> There's so much uncertainty.

[00:04:59]>> Yeah.

[00:04:59]>> There's so much that you don't know.

[00:05:02]>> I feel apprehensive. I think I'd probably grown up with that kind of, you know, let sleeping dogs lie. Don't don't open Pandora's box. But now I think having my own family and my own children, it's also um about Yeah. where they come from as well in a way >> because it's their their ancestry as well. Right.

[00:05:21]>> Exactly.

[00:05:23]>> It's bits of a puzzle >> and [snorts] the more sort of I unpick certain bits, I'm left with more questions.

[00:05:29]>> But you just want to know for good or bad like what the what the reality is. I think >> Laura has come to the University of Leicester to [music] meet Professor Chur King in the hopes she can use DNA to find out more about her biological family. [music] Chur works alongside intermediaries who specialize in adoption cases and can guide Laura through [music] the process.

[00:06:01]>> Come on in. Come sit down.

[00:06:04]It's lovely to meet you.

[00:06:06]>> You, too.

[00:06:07]>> So, how can I help you?

[00:06:09]>> So, um, I'm adopted >> and I want to seek out information, I guess, about my birth family.

[00:06:17]>> So, is it something where you feel you've have you got support on this?

[00:06:22]>> Yeah, definitely. I've got lots of friends, family, and so I feel like I've got as much support as I'm ever going to have. So, I think it's time to take the step. And what do you know about your family that you would like to confirm?

[00:06:37]>> Keen to track down if I've got siblings, how many half siblings?

[00:06:43]Yeah. All of it, really.

[00:06:45]>> Okay. [laughter] >> A lot. No.

[00:06:48]>> So, I've only ever heard what was passed on from the social workers, my mom at the time of my adoption.

[00:06:54]>> I don't know if my biological dad had children or how many. I've heard that there might have been a couple there, but again, I don't know. With my biological mother's side, I believe that I had a half sibling that was older than me that was also put up for adoption.

[00:07:12]So, I'd love to know if that's the case.

[00:07:14]And I believe I also have a sibling that came after me as well, um, who I think is my full sibling.

[00:07:20]>> So, it sounds like you you're coming for a bit of clarity. Really?

[00:07:25]>> Yes. So, I've been told things throughout my life. We've got no reason to doubt it. So just getting clarity on that would be yeah really big actually.

[00:07:35]>> Are you interested in anything to do with ancestry generally?

[00:07:39]>> Yes.

[00:07:40]>> Yeah. So I believe I'm British and that's my ancestry but to find out whether that's definitely the case or not would be great. And I want to find out more about my background, my heritage. Yeah, I guess having that confirmed or not will be really helpful.

[00:07:55]So, what we're going to do is we're going to work with an intermediary through this entire process, >> but what we will also do is take your DNA and we will upload it to databases around the world. But what we're looking for is people who you share large segments of DNA that suggest to us that this is a half sibling or cousins and things like that. Hopefully, it'll give you some some clarity and some concrete answers as we go through this process.

[00:08:29]>> I only have sort of that third-hand information >> to date. So, anything [music] >> Yeah.

[00:08:34]>> more than that would be amazing.

[00:08:41][music] It's estimated that one in 10 people who take a commercial [music] DNA test discover a full or half sibling. In the aftermath of World War II, [music] around 400,000 children were fathered by Allied soldiers in occupied Germany.

[00:09:13]Siblings [music] Anthony, Karen, and Sally believe their father might have had a child that [music] they never knew about while he was stationed there.

[00:09:31]>> Hey, hello. How are you?

[00:09:33]>> Nice to see you. [music] >> Nice to see you. Come on in. Thank you.

[00:09:37][laughter] Come on in.

[00:09:37]>> Thank you ever so much for having me.

[00:09:41]Sally Sally, how are you? I'm fancy.

[00:09:45]>> Nice to see you. How's things? Likewise.

[00:09:48]Hello. Are you all right? I'm spot on.

[00:09:50]Are you okay?

[00:09:51]>> Yes, fine.

[00:09:52]>> Wow.

[00:09:53]>> My favorite presenter.

[00:09:54]>> Is that right?

[00:09:55]>> Honestly, I give me five.

[00:09:57]>> I say that from my heart.

[00:10:00]>> I shouldn't balls this [music] up then.

[00:10:02][laughter] >> Anthony, why do you want to take a DNA test?

[00:10:10]just after the Second World War in about 1946, years before he met my mother. My father was stationed in Germany. He had a relationship and we think he had another daughter.

[00:10:22]>> Wow.

[00:10:25]After the end of the war, roughly 800,000 British troops were based in northwest Germany.

[00:10:39]My dad loved his time in Germany.

[00:10:43]He was an MP. Military police were looking after the local people and of course the Allied soldiers that were [music] still based there, making sure that everything started to get back to some sort of normality.

[00:10:56]He had a relationship with a young lady.

[00:10:59]The story is that he had a daughter with her, a British soldier, a German young lady.

[00:11:06]I don't know how well that would have gone down. Then of course he came back, but as soon as he met my mom, I mean that that was it.

[00:11:19]>> What would he say about his girlfriend?

[00:11:21]He always used to love talking about Germany and he often used to talk about his German girlfriend and on this one occasion.

[00:11:30]>> And you're an adult when you're having this conversation.

[00:11:32]>> Yes. I was in my 40s. Yeah.

[00:11:34]>> And dad said, "Yes." He said, "Uh, she had a little girl." And he went, "Oh."

[00:11:38]He said, "She." He said, "She was a sweet little thing." So I said, "Oh," I said, "What was her name?" I said, "What was what was the little girl's name?"

[00:11:46]And he said, "Lola." So I said, "Oh, that's sweet. It's beautiful that is in it.

[00:11:51]>> I could see the affection and I thought this isn't just a girlfriend's child.

[00:11:57]This is this is his.

[00:12:01]Several years passed. Um dad grew ill and my partner of 13 years, we were together a long time. [music] Um um dad liked him very much and um he told me but dad told him I've got a daughter in Germany, you know.

[00:12:19]>> Wow.

[00:12:20]>> But I think he was [music] embarrassed to tell me.

[00:12:24]>> What does that feel like?

[00:12:25]>> It's sad because I think there's somebody out there that's of me. So there's of course an enormous connection, [music] but it's it's so distant.

[00:12:36]He must have toyed with the idea of telling [music] your mom.

[00:12:40]>> We think mom knew.

[00:12:42]>> Do you?

[00:12:43]>> And I think that was one of the reasons why dad didn't want to talk about it in front of her because of his love and respect for her.

[00:12:52]>> And I understand that because, you know, families are often complicated and there are so many other people's feelings to take into consideration.

[00:13:00]There hadd been a a few comments made when mom and dad were first married by uh our grandmother and dad had two favorite songs. One was it had to be you for mom and secret love by Doris Day.

[00:13:19]So, we sort of thought between us that the song for mom was It had to be You and this secret love could well be >> his German girlfriend.

[00:13:29]>> Quite literally.

[00:13:30]>> Quite [laughter] literally.

[00:13:33]>> Have you brought photos?

[00:13:35]>> We have.

[00:13:35]>> I'm desperate to see what he looks like.

[00:13:39]>> That of their wedding.

[00:13:46]>> Well, your mom's glamorous. Mom was very glamorous.

[00:13:50]>> So that's my dad on the very far left.

[00:13:56]>> From your point of view, best case scenario, how would you like this to [music] play out?

[00:14:02]>> That she's still alive, that she's pleased we've made the effort to find her.

[00:14:10]This is a great opportunity to find out what happened and try to put it right if there was anything that was wrong and um and say that we just didn't know.

[00:14:25][music] Anthony, Karen, and Sally have come to the University of Leicester [music] to see if testing their DNA can reveal anything about the halfsister they believe their dad fathered during World War II.

[00:14:38]It's lovely to meet you.

[00:14:40]>> Really lovely to meet [music] you, too.

[00:14:43]>> So, siblings?

[00:14:45]>> Yeah, we certainly are. I'm the big one.

[00:14:47]This is the medium one. And this is a baby.

[00:14:50]>> Oh, [laughter] lovely to meet you.

[00:14:52]>> Love to see you.

[00:14:53]>> Nice to meet you, too.

[00:14:54]>> So, how can I help you?

[00:14:56]>> Well, we believe we have a half sister in Germany.

[00:15:00]>> Okay.

[00:15:01]>> And we would like to know if she is still alive. um if she actually is our sister. Um and it'd be great if she'd like to meet us.

[00:15:13]>> Okay. So, what information do you have?

[00:15:16]Do you have a name, a date?

[00:15:18]>> I asked my dad what the name of the little girl was, and he said it was Lola.

[00:15:24]And when dad knew he was dying, he said, "I've got a love child in in Germany."

[00:15:30]He said, "I did my best. I did my very best." He said, "I looked after her."

[00:15:34]Um, he said I sent money for her to get through schooling and and this that and the other and he did all he could.

[00:15:39]>> Do we have a date?

[00:15:41]>> Dad went over to Germany in 46.

[00:15:44]I would say it is probably 47 48 >> and she'd be what 73. Lola would be 73 >> something like that.

[00:15:56]>> Yeah.

[00:15:56]>> So we know a rough age as well but >> and we know that the area was badber.

[00:16:02]>> Okay. So you know this this is after the war and Germany is completely devastated.

[00:16:10]>> Sure.

[00:16:10]>> 80 million people killed 4% of the world population and obviously the allies take over Germany. It's divided up and the British we've got the northwest part of it including Brunswick and Bad Harbrex >> and they're helping to rebuild the country.

[00:16:30]>> Yes.

[00:16:30]>> With the Germans. So that completely fits in. The soldiers were not allowed to fratonize.

[00:16:38]>> But of course they did.

[00:16:39]>> Yeah.

[00:16:40]>> They would have been working alongside people. People would have gotten to know one another.

[00:16:45]>> It's going to have happened. And clearly it sounds like it happened here.

[00:16:49]>> And we know that it was incredibly difficult for people to marry.

[00:16:55]DNA, I can tell you it's going to be a long shot for a few reasons. Genetic testing in Germany is not as popular as it is here. I mean, it's huge here. It's huge in the US. It's actually still illegal in France to do DNA testing like we do for this. So, right.

[00:17:15]>> Yeah. The other difficulties are that in Germany birth records, you can't access them publicly for 110 years.

[00:17:25]>> Wow.

[00:17:25]>> Yeah.

[00:17:26]>> Gosh.

[00:17:27]In order to be able to find this DNA match, it has to be either her or a very close relative like a child or a grandchild who is on the database which will allow us to see that genetic match.

[00:17:41]>> So, this is going to be really really difficult, >> but now is the time to do it definitely because the databases are so huge and they're growing all the time. We've now got this new tool that's available to us. So now is absolutely the time to do it.

[00:17:58]>> I just feel as though I'd like to reach out and say, "Look, you know, we're here and if you would like to be part of our family, we would love you to be." So >> there's so many different ways it could go. I mean, we've been we've been through just about every avenue that we can think of that could happen.

[00:18:18]>> And we I think we're prepared for anything, aren't we?

[00:18:20]>> Oh, yeah. Absolutely. you know, we're just wanting to try it, trying to give it a go just to see if we can reach out for it.

[00:18:28]>> Yeah.

[00:18:28]>> The years are passing by and >> if we don't do it now, you know, it's probably one of those things that we would never do. So, and we couldn't have done this by ourselves. So, it's only with with your help and everybody here that we would have any sort of chance.

[00:18:43]>> Yeah. We just want to know her from the sounds of it.

[00:18:46]>> Yeah. So to start this process, I'm going to need a nominee to give a DNA sample.

[00:18:56]>> I'll put myself forward for that.

[00:18:57]>> Excellent. Okay. So, what I need you to do is spit into that.

[00:19:04]>> Okay.

[00:19:06]Um Right. Okay. Y goes.

[00:19:08]>> We won't look. Um [laughter] >> lovely. Thank you.

[00:19:17]Let's see what we can do to find her.

[00:19:19]>> Thank you.

[00:19:20]>> Thank you.

[00:19:21]>> Thank you.

[00:19:38]Laura took a DNA test in the hope of finding out more about her biological family.

[00:19:45]Why am I [music] doing this?

[00:19:49]I think the turning point for me was becoming a mom myself.

[00:19:54]I want to find out my background.

[00:19:56]I guess what I'm going to pass on to my kids, my family, but I'm also terrified as to what I might find.

[00:20:15]She and her husband Hrik are keen to find out what Chur has discovered.

[00:20:20]>> I just realized after nearly 40 years >> of not knowing where you're from.

[00:20:27]>> You're this close to finding out. It's just such a huge leap to go from not even knowing who these people are >> to then having clarity on >> who who is that? Like how many siblings have I got?

[00:20:41]>> Like all of this stuff. It's terrifying.

[00:20:44]>> Yeah. It's scary.

[00:20:45]>> Yeah. It's ultimately a positive thing having that information which I agree.

[00:20:49]>> And it's just a lot to try and >> hold most of that in mind and not and worry about not upsetting anyone in the process.

[00:20:58]You're so brave, babe. [snorts] You are. This is a big journey.

[00:21:06]I'm so proud of you, babe. Really am.

[00:21:14]>> Give it. [laughter] >> Such a big step.

[00:21:24]>> Mhm.

[00:21:30]>> [music] >> It feels like you want to say in some ways [music] DNA doesn't matter. Like what matters is the people you have a relationship with.

[00:21:41]It's all about people [music] that love you, the people that have been there for you. And yet there is a pull back to [music] DNA and who you're biologically related to for good or for bad. I don't even know what that pull is, [music] but it is there.

[00:22:14][music] Come on in. Come [clears throat] sit down.

[00:22:17]It's lovely to see you again. I'm >> too.

[00:22:20]>> Okay.

[00:22:22]So, when you first came to us, it was to find out more information about your biological family, and that was because you were adopted.

[00:22:32]>> Mhm.

[00:22:32]>> So, what we did with your DNA was we're we're taking your DNA [music] and we are uploading it to databases around the world. And there's over 30 million people on these databases now. And we can actually use DNA to sort of tell you a little bit about each side of your family tree.

[00:22:52]>> So on your mom's side, we're getting a lot of matches in Lancaster, so northwest England up into Scotland, >> and you've also got family down in London.

[00:23:04]>> Wow. [snorts] And on your dad's side, we're also getting matches up in northwest England, but also Ireland. So, he definitely has Irish in his family tree. So, the Irish matches that you're getting seem to come from your biological father's side.

[00:23:25]>> It's really surreal just to have Yeah.

[00:23:28]Cuz [music] thinking you're British or from the UK or that's your ancestry is one thing, but even hearing that is Yeah. It's bizarre. It makes it really real.

[00:23:38]>> Once we we can do the ancestry side, we can start to look at who you're getting matches with. And you were getting matches with over 300 people at fourth cousin or closer.

[00:23:53]So with that information, we're able to build out your family tree. And on your mom's side, going back to the sort of mid 1800s. Wow.

[00:24:05]>> Yeah.

[00:24:05]>> Wow. [laughter] >> So, I can tell you that [music] on your mom's side, you have got your grandfather and grandmother. They are Cecil and Ada.

[00:24:21]So, we can see that they had three children.

[00:24:25]>> Okay.

[00:24:25]>> They brought them up in London.

[00:24:28]Your biological mother is the youngest of those three.

[00:24:36]So, I'm going to stay with biological mom's side for now >> because I know one of the questions that you had was whether or not you had any Hoff siblings.

[00:24:48]>> So, from our research, we can see that on your biological mother's side, you have a Hoff sister and she was born 13 years before [music] you.

[00:25:06]You've also got a younger [music] brother.

[00:25:09]>> Mhm.

[00:25:14]>> Okay.

[00:25:16]>> So then started having a look at your biological father's side [music] and the matches.

[00:25:25]You have another halfsister.

[00:25:30]>> Wow.

[00:25:33]through your biological father's side is different from what I was expecting to have. My biological dad's side does not match up at all. Gosh, there's potent Well, >> yeah, it's >> not potentially. You're one of three sisters or half sisters and a brother.

[00:26:02]Look, I'm going again.

[00:26:03][laughter and gasps] Hey, >> it's very personal, isn't it? It's >> It's about your ancestry, which you've had nothing up until now.

[00:26:27]>> Yeah. Yeah, hearing the specifics and from both sides of the family makes it really um Yeah, it's real. And then it's bizarre to think you don't know that because most people know all of that about themselves.

[00:26:46]>> Yeah, it's really bizarre.

[00:26:49]>> How's that for a morning?

[00:26:51]>> Yeah. [laughter] I'm going to cry [laughter] again.

[00:27:13]>> Are you okay?

[00:27:18]>> Hey.

[00:27:18]>> Hi.

[00:27:19]>> All right.

[00:27:20]>> Yeah.

[00:27:24][laughter] Yeah.

[00:27:26]>> Uh, how you feeling?

[00:27:28]>> Yeah. Okay.

[00:27:29]>> Just getting my head around lots of information.

[00:27:33]>> Yeah.

[00:27:34]>> Were you surprised about the geography?

[00:27:37][laughter] >> Yeah, >> completely. Just knowing geographically where both sides of my family came from, just like within the UK, but then the specific roots quite a bit up north. and Irish is just bizarre.

[00:27:55]>> Such a process.

[00:27:56]>> Yeah.

[00:27:58]>> You've got siblings.

[00:28:00]>> We know that one of them may be a full sibling.

[00:28:02]>> Yeah. I think this was just definitely the first step of like who exists and doesn't exist cuz I didn't know for sure.

[00:28:09]>> There's another half sister that my biological dad had.

[00:28:15]>> Oh wow.

[00:28:16]>> Yeah.

[00:28:17]>> I'm going to go. [laughter] >> Do you know what Laura? It's so massive and I think you're so used to being so levelheaded. You're very rational and this is enormous.

[00:28:30]>> Don't underestimate how taxing [music] this has probably been for you emotionally.

[00:28:36]>> It's my tissue. I'm totally unprepared.

[00:28:38]Look.

[00:28:39]>> Thanks.

[00:28:42]>> Yeah. It's just weird knowing like in a good way.

[00:28:47]>> Yeah.

[00:28:49]It's like you didn't realize how much >> Yeah. You didn't know, >> right?

[00:28:57]>> I'm delighted that you were able to find out for sure you have siblings. We can carry on the conversation when you feel ready.

[00:29:05]>> Yeah.

[00:29:05]>> Um we'll just stay in touch and be led by you.

[00:29:11][music] Laura decided she did want to make contact with family members revealed by testing her DNA.

[00:29:21]>> And now after 3 months, the team has some news.

[00:29:28]>> Laura, >> hi.

[00:29:30]>> How are you?

[00:29:31]>> Not too bad.

[00:29:31]>> Nice to see you.

[00:29:32]>> Me, too.

[00:29:33]>> Oh, thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[00:29:38]So, we haven't seen each other in a while.

[00:29:42]>> It's been a good few months.

[00:29:44]>> So, you gave the intermediary permission to reach out to your biological family members.

[00:29:52]>> Yeah.

[00:29:53]>> I know she wrote to your birth mom.

[00:29:57]>> Mhm.

[00:29:58]>> The social worker. She was saying that they've had a letter returned, but no comments on it.

[00:30:03]>> Okay. you you've done everything you can do on your side and then you gave us permission to reach out to your siblings which is exactly what the intermediary did and actually we've had a response from your older sibling your older half sister [music] and um she was super positive live.

[00:30:36]She Okay.

[00:30:47]She was the one I always wanted to find because she'd also been put up for adoption. [music] >> Uh she didn't know that you existed. Now she does. She was delighted to hear that that she has a half sister.

[00:31:02]That's big.

[00:31:03]>> Yeah.

[00:31:07]>> She'd really be quite [music] keen to have a conversation with you and she's asked us to share her contact details, [music] her phone number today.

[00:31:19]>> Yeah, it's a [music] bit nuts.

[00:31:20]>> It's a bit nuts.

[00:31:22]>> Like your half sister. What? Like >> Yeah.

[00:31:26]>> Yeah, that is. The more you say it, I haven't really taken it in. I'm just going Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:31:31]>> Yeah. It's going to [music] be the most bizarre thing ever.

[00:31:36]>> Great.

[00:31:39]>> Amazing. Thank you.

[00:31:41]>> No, thank you again. Honestly, >> it kind of blows my mind to think that I'm part [music] of this other family.

[00:31:54]putting to rest [music] a lot of these questions that I had.

[00:32:17]1.7 million people in England and Wales are of mixed heritage.

[00:32:26]53-year-old [music] Julie is one of them.

[00:32:30]Adopted as a baby, she's never known her biological parents and is hoping DNA [music] can reveal details about her father's side of the family.

[00:32:53]>> Hello, Julie.

[00:32:54]>> Hi.

[00:32:55]>> How are you feeling?

[00:32:56]>> I'm all right, thank you.

[00:32:57]>> Good, good, good. Do you feel nervous?

[00:32:59]Would you feel okay?

[00:33:00]>> I feel a bit a little bit nervous.

[00:33:02]>> Yeah, >> that's totally totally to be expected.

[00:33:05]>> So, Julie, what is it that you want to find out about your DNA?

[00:33:09]>> So, I've always known from when I was very young, so maybe two or three. Um, I knew I was adopted now. I must have been weeks or months old.

[00:33:19]I was told that my birth mother was white British. She had an affair with a Pakistani man, got pregnant and gave the baby up. But I don't know if that's true or not.

[00:33:30]>> Wow.

[00:33:31]>> So, >> okay.

[00:33:32]>> All my life I've been led to believe that my father was Pakistani and perhaps he isn't. That might be just an assumption. So, I'm incredibly curious.

[00:33:46]It's something I've thought about all my life.

[00:33:51]I was born in ' 69 70s England. [music] It's a very different place.

[00:33:57]Growing up, my adopted family were white.

[00:34:02]There were six of us. [music] I didn't look like one of my siblings.

[00:34:07]And at school, I was the only dark child. I had a lot of racism, which I don't think my family understood because they didn't really [music] get it. So, I felt ashamed of my skin color.

[00:34:24]>> [music] >> I longed to be white. I mean, I can't imagine now. I love my skin.

[00:34:35]This This is my face. I think you look so cute here. I think you look adorable.

[00:34:42]>> But you never felt it as a kid. Isn't that heartbreaking?

[00:34:45]>> I felt like the ugly little brown child.

[00:34:47]>> Your little 70s outfit as well.

[00:34:49]>> I know. Actually, I did like that blouse. My sister had a matching [laughter] one and I think my mother probably knitted the tank top.

[00:34:55]>> That's still a good job.

[00:34:59]>> So, have you ever tried to find your biological mom?

[00:35:03]>> Around 2015, I did finally get hold of my adoption records and I found out her name and I contacted her and she said, "Please don't contact me again."

[00:35:16]>> So, that's upsetting, of course.

[00:35:17]>> God. Yeah.

[00:35:18]>> Yeah.

[00:35:20]So [music] the main goal is to have a degree of certainty about your own identity instead of speculating.

[00:35:29]>> Yeah. But you know, it's not just about my identity. It's my daughter's as well.

[00:35:34]>> How old your girl?

[00:35:35]>> She's 20 now, actually. Yeah.

[00:35:37]>> And I mean, have there been moments where she's had questions that you haven't been able to answer?

[00:35:43]>> She knows where she comes from because she comes from me and her father's actually Malay.

[00:35:49]But that next step or that sort of lineage biologically, there's nothing.

[00:35:53]It's just stops with me. So it kind of affects her as well in that sense. You know, there's just that little bit missing that I don't know. I think I know, but I don't. Do I? I don't know.

[00:36:05]>> You deserve to know, don't you? Because it's it's who you are. It's half of you.

[00:36:10]>> Yeah.

[00:36:18]To me, it's the biology of it that's important to find out.

[00:36:24]I'm not from Pakistan, but I don't know if my genetics are.

[00:36:30]To actually find out the exact ancestry would be just incredible.

[00:36:39]Julie is traveling to the University of Leicester to meet Professor [music] Chury King.

[00:36:47]She's hoping a DNA test can reveal clues to her ancestry.

[00:36:56]>> Hello.

[00:36:56]>> Hello. Come on in.

[00:36:59]>> Nice to meet you.

[00:37:00]>> It's nice to meet you.

[00:37:03]>> So, how can I help you? Well, um, what I'm wanting to find out is the DNA line on my father's side because I was adopted as a baby.

[00:37:14]>> Okay.

[00:37:15]>> And according to my adoption record, um, my mother was white British and my father was Pakistani.

[00:37:24]>> Okay?

[00:37:25]>> So, that's what I've assumed all my life. When I tell people that I'm half Pakistani, quite a lot of the time they're surprised because they think I'm Italian or Spanish because of my olive skin. So perhaps I could be from anywhere. I don't know.

[00:37:40]>> Have you thought about the possibility that people just put down that he was he was Pakistani because that was kind of what people assumed and it's, you know, quite a broad group, but you may actually have ancestry from somewhere else.

[00:37:54]>> I mean, yes, that is a possibility. It's not something I thought about growing up. It's only recently. Um, and I just thought because of the area, there are a lot of Pakistani families. Perhaps I'm related to some of them. Um, or maybe I'm not. So, I'd like to find out if indeed I am. And this is where DNA can actually be really really helpful because it's it's probably the only way in this case to be able to give you some sort of answers as to where your ancestry is coming from and with any luck find some relatives that might give us an indication as to sort of who your biological father was. One of the really interesting things about your potential ancestry is that this is a really interesting period in social history in this country. So it's after the war and the government is putting out a call for help uh to help rebuild the country after the war. The Pakistanibborn population more than quadrupled during the 1960s from around 31,000 to 136,000.

[00:39:03]You've got people coming over from India, Pakistan post separation in 1947 and obviously you've got Asian populations are really starting to sort of settle around sort of Bradford Leadeds um York Huttersfield Dbury where you were born.

[00:39:21]>> That's where I was born. Yeah.

[00:39:22]>> Yeah. Many of the Pakistanis were from the Mirur region. So we know in the 1960s the Pakistani government is uh building the manga dam displacing thousands of people. The British government granted permission for many of those people to come and work particularly in the Midlands and the north of England.

[00:39:43]>> So your father could have been one of the Pakistanis that came over at that time. So it could well be that that is where your ancestry comes from. So what we do in in this case is what we do is we take your DNA and we upload it to databases around the world and there's over 30 million people on these databases. Now with your mom being British, we will almost certainly find matches. Could be quite distant, albeit with people on your biological mom's side. If we do find family members on that side, how do you feel about that?

[00:40:23]>> I'm interested in that as well.

[00:40:24]>> Yeah.

[00:40:26]>> And I'm pretty confident we're going to be able to say something about where your biological father's ancestry is from. What DNA can do is it can give you a region. Issues with that are that people from India and Pakistan don't necessarily take these sorts of tests.

[00:40:43]So they're more popular in in particular groups than in others. So that could make it a particular issue.

[00:40:49]>> I think even if you can just pinpoint where my ancestry is from, I may have some new knowledge at least.

[00:40:58]>> Jury will now take Judy's DNA and uploads it to the worldwide databases in the hope of finding a match.

[00:41:14]It's been 5 months since siblings Anthony, Sally, and Karen took a DNA test to try and trace an older half sibling from Germany.

[00:41:25]>> Cheers, everybody.

[00:41:26]>> Cheers. Cheers.

[00:41:30]>> It has brought us closer together, doesn't it?

[00:41:32]>> Yeah, I agree.

[00:41:33]>> We're all in it together.

[00:41:36]I never thought anything like this would happen to us in our family.

[00:41:40]>> I'm really happy that we're doing it. I think it's important for us. I think it's only fair for us, actually.

[00:41:47]>> But what would they think?

[00:41:48]>> I'm not sure. Sometimes I'm thinking, would mom be going, "Oh, no, no, no, no." Or, you know, or would dad go, "Oh, no, no." You know, or or would they say, "Yes, go on, go ahead."

[00:42:02]>> It gives you butterflies a bit, doesn't it?

[00:42:03]>> Yes, it does a bit. It could go so many different ways.

[00:42:07]>> So many different ways.

[00:42:07]>> Yeah. True. True. True. Yeah.

[00:42:17][music] I believe somewhere in Germany there is a half sister that belonged to [music] Karen Anthony and myself.

[00:42:26]Definitely we want to meet her [music] and we want to embrace her into our family and we have actually [music] put ourselves out there to be found.

[00:42:40][music] >> I think if this happens our life is going to change massively really because it's it's just a [music] completely new section of our family which 15 years [music] ago we didn't even know existed.

[00:42:56]I think I've just sort of somewhere between nervous and excited.

[00:43:02]>> Well, I know in my heart what I want the answer to be, but it's an incredible long shot.

[00:43:11]>> The [music] siblings have returned to Leicester to see if Chur has been able to unlock the secrets of their father's past.

[00:43:19]>> Hello, Jury.

[00:43:20]>> Hello. It's so good to see you again.

[00:43:22]>> Yes. Good to see you.

[00:43:23]>> Good to see you, too. Yeah.

[00:43:27]Okay. So, when you came the first time, you had very little information to go on.

[00:43:36]>> Hardly anything.

[00:43:37]>> Yeah.

[00:43:38]>> Yeah.

[00:43:38]>> A first name, Lola. [clears throat] >> A little girl, >> that your father had with a German girlfriend over in Germany after World War II.

[00:43:50]>> Yes, >> that's exactly it. [sighs] So, we knew that this was going to be really difficult.

[00:43:58]DNA testing is just not that popular in Germany.

[00:44:05][music] And I can tell you that we weren't lucky [music] in this case.

[00:44:20]>> Okay.

[00:44:22]There were no matches at the level that we were looking for. Nothing.

[00:44:31]But one thing I do say to people is that we may not be able to answer your question here, but 6 [music] months, a year, 2 years. By putting yourself on [music] these databases, if in the future somebody from her family does take a DNA test, you're there and [music] and ready to be contacted.

[00:44:57]>> It is a shame.

[00:44:58]>> Yeah.

[00:44:58]>> Yeah.

[00:44:59]>> But these can see I can see how difficult. It was a long shot right from the word go. [music] >> I mean, we've done what all we can do.

[00:45:09]You have you've done we came to the decision did we do something about it or not >> in our lifetime we thought we would >> and the fact that um >> we've not been successful but at least we we've done as much as we possibly could.

[00:45:21]>> You have and and I I think don't underestimate that because you have put yourselves out there to be found.

[00:45:27]>> If this person wants to find you there's a way of doing it.

[00:45:31]>> It's a positive step.

[00:45:33]>> Yes.

[00:45:34]>> Thank you so much.

[00:45:35]>> You are so welcome. It's lovely to meet you.

[00:45:37]>> Bless you.

[00:45:40]Hey.

[00:45:40]>> Hi. How's things?

[00:45:44]>> Oh, lovely to see you again.

[00:45:46]>> Great to see you again, too. Yeah.

[00:45:48]>> How How we feeling? Talk [music] to me.

[00:45:50]>> We're okay.

[00:45:52]>> Yeah. We went in with it with such open eyes, thinking, [music] >> you know, we know this person exists, >> but it's just so difficult.

[00:46:00]>> I'm disappointed and I'm sad.

[00:46:04]>> Yeah.

[00:46:04]>> We had so little to go on, >> right? The truth is when we start these journeys, we've absolutely no idea genuinely >> exactly >> what's going to happen.

[00:46:15]>> But the fact that you guys have now sort of um offered your DNA and you now exist in those databases, >> if you know your half sister did have questions, actually it's a very um generous thing of you to do because she could think, "Oh, actually I do have matches." And it would be much easier for her to locate you guys. further down the line.

[00:46:37]>> I think it's fair.

[00:46:37]>> As long as they don't leave it too long cuz I'm not, you know, >> don't be talking like that. [laughter] >> But we are saying, aren't we? We are saying, "Hey, we're here. Here's our information."

[00:46:47]>> Yeah.

[00:46:47]>> Hey, we're here. Yeah.

[00:46:48]>> We're there. We're waiting.

[00:46:51][music] Julie will be receiving her results with her 21-year-old daughter, Ebony.

[00:47:14]I'd like to find out exactly where I'm from so I can say to my daughter, "Okay, so this is your genetic history."

[00:47:25]She's the only person that I know 100% that I'm related to biologically.

[00:47:31][music] Thank you.

[00:47:39]>> Wow, that looks so nice.

[00:47:41]>> Thank you.

[00:47:45]So, >> what would you say is the best case scenario you'd find out from the results related to Landry Gentry?

[00:47:52]>> We're from like the old Mogul Empire and I was a princess. That would be fabulous. I doubt that very much.

[00:47:59]>> Are you a little bit excited then about it? No, of course I'm I was one of the people who was like pushing you to go for this journey actually.

[00:48:06]>> Yeah, you did >> because >> it would mean a lot for me, you know, for you to get some answers just because I have seen throughout my life how >> it has always been that underlying burning question that >> just not ever had answers. And I think you've also yourself kind of put it off for years. It did seem to bother you. It was like an emotional subject for you clearly like your whole adoption, your childhood. It's almost like this history has been built that we haven't seen it yet. Your history stops with me.

[00:48:36]And how much of that story can we find out?

[00:48:39]>> I've never met anyone in person. Well, neither of you >> that we're apart from me that we're blood related to.

[00:48:46]>> Yeah.

[00:48:46]>> And obviously that's not the only thing that family is, but it would be nice because I feel like both of us have might have a new kind of sense of belonging.

[00:48:55]>> Yeah. Maybe. Who knows?

[00:49:00]It will be an emotional process for her.

[00:49:01]Whatever they find out being able to let go of all the stress of the the wondering, having a new found sense of [music] self and peace, I can see how it how it could benefit her.

[00:49:19][music] After decades of questioning her own ancestry, Julie is returning to the University of Leicester with daughter Ebony, [music] hoping to get some answers.

[00:49:31]Come on in. It's lovely to see you again.

[00:49:34]>> Thank you.

[00:49:35]>> And nice to meet you.

[00:49:38]Okay. So, when you first came, your question was around your ancestry and I remember you saying that you you kind of wanted to know now for certain.

[00:49:53]>> Just having that confirmation and assurance of kind of in ourselves who we are.

[00:49:59]>> I want to get to that.

[00:50:00]>> Yeah.

[00:50:01]>> Yeah.

[00:50:01]>> Yeah. So when we're doing this, what we do is we take your DNA and we upload it to various databases around the world. And the databases are made up of kind of two different groups of people. So there are people who've already taken DNA tests and then they've got reference populations from particular parts of the world. On your birth and adoption records, there was no hint as to who your biological >> father was. So, we're looking to see whether or not we can find any DNA matches which might give us an indication as to what your heritage is on your biological father's side.

[00:50:53]You've got a couple sort of second, third cousin matches. So that's going to be people who you would be sharing possibly a a great grandparent or a great greatgrandparent with.

[00:51:09]But the issue with matching people on these databases is there's not the sort of birth, marriage, and death records that we [music] can use that are available like in this country that we can use to build family trees.

[00:51:24]So, we're not able to build a family tree with those matches to be able to home in on who your biological father is.

[00:51:33]>> Okay.

[00:51:43]>> So, [music] really, it's going to be almost impossible to find out who he was or is >> at the moment.

[00:51:52]One of the things I do say is that while this is not popular in people with these backgrounds at the moment, it's becoming much more so. And that's because as people came over here, [music] their descendants quite often are the ones who are taking the DNA tests because they [music] want to know about their ancestry and they want to see if they can find relatives. And so give it a few months, a year or two, you might have people popping up on the database that then can lead to finding who your biological father is.

[00:52:29]>> And it's quite comforting in the sense of knowing that it's not a dead end that there's possibilities that we might eventually, you know, actually find out about a named relative.

[00:52:38]>> Yeah. Sometimes this bit is actually just the start >> of the journey.

[00:52:45]So, the next thing we're doing is we're looking to see your ancestry.

[00:52:51]So, I know you were adopted and your mom, you knew she's white.

[00:52:58]>> Yeah.

[00:52:59]>> English.

[00:53:00]>> Okay. So, let's start with mom's side.

[00:53:05]>> So, you know, she's white.

[00:53:08]>> Yeah.

[00:53:08]>> British. And that's definitely what's coming back on that side. So you're getting your matches are about 45% English, Northwest Europe. You've got a little bit of Swedish, bit of Danish, tiny bit of Scottish in there as well.

[00:53:27]And that's completely with what we [clears throat] were expecting given what you knew so far.

[00:53:33]you were getting a concentration around West Yorkshire and we can see that that family is really concentrated around Dubesbury.

[00:53:46]>> So does that >> fit?

[00:53:48]>> Definitely.

[00:53:50]>> I know that you thought that your dad was going to be from Southeast Asia [clears throat] >> and that's exactly what we were finding.

[00:54:03]There was enough information on the databases to be able to give you some actually fairly detailed information about your ancestry.

[00:54:14]So your matches are all coming around in this [snorts] region here into northern India and [music] up into Afghanistan and Pakistan and the Punjab region.

[00:54:29]Surnames that are likely to be in your biological father's tree are Hashmi and Hannan.

[00:54:37]Both Pakistan names that we're we're getting from [music] there. Okay.

[00:54:45]When you first came, there was some doubt in there. [music] Does it feel good to finally get it kind of pinned down?

[00:54:52]>> I've always known and but I haven't. But now I do, I suppose. At least yes. Like you say, I know 100%.

[00:55:01]>> Thank you, Tury.

[00:55:02]>> You're welcome.

[00:55:09]>> Hey, how are you? It's nice to see you, Julie. Get comfy. We haven't met.

[00:55:14]>> Hi. Nice to meet you.

[00:55:16]It's so nice. I've heard so much about you. Nice to see you. All right.

[00:55:19]>> Yeah, I'm good. How are you?

[00:55:21]>> Good.

[00:55:21]>> So, how you feeling?

[00:55:22]>> I'm feeling absolutely fine. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:55:25]I wasn't 100% of course, but I am now.

[00:55:29]It makes a difference. Just knowing where I come from. We definitely know now, don't we?

[00:55:37]>> And how do how do you feel? Cuz I suppose this is something that obviously also affects you. And >> it just feels like a relief in the sense just to be 100% certain. So now when people ask me what is your heritage, I can say, "Yeah, definitely. It's definitely this." because I'm half Pakistani, of course. So, she's a quarter a quarter English and then half Malaysian.

[00:55:59]>> That's why you're so beautiful.

[00:56:01][laughter] >> I imagine it's hard not to be slightly disheartened that we weren't able to give you a name, but we have had situations in the past where people have gone away and the DNA registers and the databases have evolved.

[00:56:15]>> Yeah.

[00:56:16]>> And we've gone back to that that person and said, "Actually, there's been a development."

[00:56:20]>> That would be fabulous. It would be fabulous.

[00:56:23]>> What is true now isn't necessarily [music] going to be the case in a couple of months, couple years time. Who knows?

[00:56:30]>> Okay.

[00:56:30]>> But thank you.

[00:56:32]No, total total pleasure.

[00:57:33]I said, "What's my mother's secret?" And he said, "She had a child during the war and it was adopted." A wrong was done to her and I want to put it right.

[00:57:44]>> What do you know about your dad? Do you know anything?

[00:57:47]>> Fragments of information I have is not enough.

[00:57:51]>> This isn't about closure. This is about expansion. [music] So this will make my life expand, won't it?

[00:57:58]>> My mom never [music] told me who my dad was. I don't know her name. I don't know anything about him.

[00:58:04]>> She's done something [music] that she wanted to do. Their mom would be proud of her. We have traced him.

[00:58:41]>> [music]