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This online talk is hosted by SIGS.
Promises We Didn't Make: Ethics in Adoptee Search
In adoption research, the records and the people are one and the same. Genealogists are trained to see a sealed file as an obstacle, but that file exists because promises were made to living people, sometimes decades ago, and those promises were not all made to the same person. DNA has since made those promises unenforceable in practice. A test taken out of curiosity can tell someone they were adopted, or tell a stranger on a match list that a sibling (or child) exists, or surface a pregnancy a woman was told to put behind her and never speak of again. Nobody in that exchange asked for the information, and only one of them chose to test. So the hard question is not whether contact is possible. It is where we draw the line: what do we owe a half-sibling who never knew, a birth mother who was assured this day would never come, or someone to reopen a wound on a stranger's timeline? The ethical work centers on: an adoptee's need to know their origins, a birth parent's expectation of privacy, an adoptive family's place in the story, and our own obligation not to treat someone's history as a puzzle we are entitled to solve. In practice, this should be seen as a series of judgment calls made with the client, not for them.
Date & Time: This talk will be held online on the 6 April 2027 from 18.30-19.45 BST. Participants will receive a link to the recording after the talk which will be accessible until the 5 May 2027.
If you can’t join us live, you can still purchase the recording until 3 May 2027 and access it until 5 May 2027.
Speaker:
Dr. Shannon Combs-Bennett, PhD, QG, FSAScot, is an award-winning author, educator, and speaker based in Virginia, USA. She writes and presents on subjects ranging from genetic genealogy to research methodology, drawing on a Bachelor of Science in biology with an emphasis in genetics from Indiana University and a PhD in history with genealogy from the University of Strathclyde. She serves on the boards of the Association of Professional Genealogists and the Genealogical Speakers Guild, and is a trustee of the International Society for British Genealogy and Family History, where she is also Senior Editor of its publication, British Connections. With genetic counselor Brianne Kirkpatrick, she co-authored The DNA Guide for Adoptees.
Cost: £12.00
