August 2010 Archives

Wow - it is the 3rd week of August and although we've been seeing those "back to school sales" since June - it really is just about back to school time.  I don't have to go back to school anymore, but I still can't stand those "back to school" commercials on TV.  Why do they have to remind me that my favorite time of the year, summer, is just about ending.  You can feel it at night - it's dark by 8pm, the pool is a degree cooler than last month, the mosquitoes are huge and even football has made an appearance on our TV.  Is life moving faster because it is all downhill after 40?  Who knows?  But here's a safety tip for parents, getting ready to move into "school mode". 

Along with yearly medical exams, dental visits, new school clothes or updated pieces of uniforms (if you're lucky) have a DNA Profile taken of your child instead of those inky, outdated fingerprints offered by local police stations at stranger danger days.  Unless it is a digitzed fingerprint - it is not as valuable as a DNA Profile, in the unfortuate event of a missing child or loved one.  Although having your child's DNA profile will not locate a missing child, it is an additional tool in your kit to help safeguard children.  Can anyone safely walk to school anymore? 

Many DNA collectors have partnered with their local dentists (www.oscarfgrobdmd.com) so that a simple DNA collection can be performed on the same day as your child's yearly dental appointment. A Child Safety Identification Profile is fast, painless (no needles) and priceless.  If your dentist does not have the newest technology to safeguard your child (DNA Child Safety Identification Profile) ask him to contact the local DNA collector or contact the local DNA collector yourself.  Many DNA collectors also offer discounts to groups of 10 or more - have a CSI Party at your home and let the DNA Lady create your child's unique DNA Profile and identifying documents in a party like atmosphere. The  hostess gets a free Child Safety Identification DNA Profile of one child (or more) depending on total number of participants. 

In the event, your child does go missing - don't wait - call 911 - there is no such thing as waiting 24 hours to report a missing child - gone are those days.  Your local authority will collect as much identifying information as possible about your missing loved one but they will not necessarily run a DNA sample.  Having a CSI Profile readily available arms them and you with today's most up to date technology for safeguarding children.  

Here are a few other actions that can be taken to generate awareness in the event a child or loved one goes missing: 

• Media attention will generate leads.
• Volunteers can organize many events that will keep the story in the hearts and minds of the public.
• Organize students who will distribute posters and flyers.
• Appearances on radio or television talk shows by parents (radio can be done in-studio by telephone, live or taped.)
• Radio stations all across the state can be asked to play your child’s favorite song or a song selected by parents, e.g., “Somewhere Out There” from “An American Tale” and have the song dedicated to the child.
• Hold a rally at the child’s school with music and prayers.
• Organize a benefit dance and/or auction.
• Contact area sports teams to include photos and story in their programs and possibly have a P.A. announcement made at games.
• Produce buttons or T-shirts with your child’s name.
• Dedication of a garden or a tree to the child.
• Hold a candlelight vigil indoors or outdoors.
• Bowling tournaments, marathons, etc. dedicated to your child.
• Contact banks or local businesses to dedicate a Christmas tree/lights to the child.
• Contact radio stations offering to do a telephone interview to remind people to keep watching and looking for the child.
• Have classmates do a letter writing campaign, writing to friends and families across the country telling about the missing child.
• Organize a human chain linking communities school to school, house to church, etc. Radio stations can help organize the crowd. Ask sports celebrities to participate.
• Public Service Announcements and appeals for help on radio and television.
• Mass release of helium filled balloons imprinted with child’s name, or with information about the missing child inside.

The above tips are taken from the Laura Recovery Center Manual.  One of the most important tips, is to take care of yourself - get sleep, eat properly and take help from neighbors, friends and family.  Keep a "visitor's log" of everyone who enters your home after the incident.  Get copies of local newspapers - from the day or week before the incident, the day of the incient and the week after the incident - this will give you an idea of any new workers in the area - road construction, home construction, utility vehicles, cable networks - they are possible witnesses as well as possible suspects.  Ask local utility companies to identify the days their representatives are in your neighborhood - again possible witnesses or suspects.   

An ounce of prevention today is worth a pound of cure tomorrow.  Teach your children to protect their own boundaries.  Reinforce to them to bring attention to themselves in the event that someone (anyone) is bothering them, talking to them, interfering with them, following them, threatening them.  Someone and anyone includes family members, neighbors, teammates, facebook buddy, school mates, strangers in cars, vans, carpools - people at sporting events, grocery stores, malls, block parties - the next door neighbor's visiting uncle, brother, grand parents - someone is anyone not necessarily a man in a tan raincoat these days and sadly teachers and educators are included in this lot. 

Having proper identifying documents (Child Safety Identification DNA Profile) and information readily available to distribute to your local authority and other centers (National Center for Missing and Exploited Children) will help you feel you have done everything in your power to safeguard your children.

Happy Back to School Days (ugh.)

When adoptees (for lack of a kinder word) go in search of their biological parents, a DNA test may be a useful tool depending on what you're trying to accomplish.

If you have been lucky enough to find someone who you believe to be a biological relative, we have DNA tests and probability calculators to give you an idea of the value of evidence DNA testing can provide.  For example, if you are a female and find someone who is supposed to be your half sister (you shared one biological parent) and we can collect DNA from just you and the alleged half sibling, a DNA test could return limited support of about 90% probability of relatedness.  Although the 90% number is not enough evidence to be used in a legal process, if there were no "relatedness" the number would return at 0% - so at least you will have an idea of whether there is some biological matter shared between you and this "alleged half sibling" and you can move onto to other relatives in that siblings family line. 

Just to continue to give an adoptee more statistics on this subject, suppose you are female and you find a man who is the brother of your alleged father.  An avuncular test could return evidence with moderate support of 92% probability of relatedness.  And as has happened a number of times, I get phone calls from a woman who says that the father of her child is deceased but she wants to prove paternity.  We can collect the deceased alleged father's mother, father, sister or brother and provide evidence is support of the relationship.  It is a matter of testing as many of the available relatives as possible. 

The idea being, that whoever you find in your search for a biological relative, your local DNA collector probably has a test that can determine if there is a biological relationship between you.  Some DNA collectors offer biological reconstruction where up to 5 people are tested at one time and a biological family tree is created - if there is matching DNA among the 5 people.  You may find a loosely knit family with knowledge of family history but have never decided to confirm or research the stories.  DNA testing allows you to rule out rumors and confirm relatedness. 

On the other hand, if you have not been able to find biological family members and you just want to know what your ancestral map contains, Genealogy and Ancestral DNA tests are also offered by your local DNA collector.  Look for my blog entry that explains all 18 haplogroups of the world - do you know which one you may belong to?  Perhaps that's your starting point and from there you can seek out possible family members based on the haplogroup information.  An example would be if you are a man and your haplogroup returns as part of the Haplogroup B and Haplogroup I - then iit would make no sense to go testing people who are obviously from Haplogroup O.  An additional feature of the ancestry testing, is the ability to connect via email with possible genetic cousins/relatives.  People who are already in the database and those who may enter the database in the future.  You and the "biological relatives" have to authorize the connection, but as the database of ancestral researchers grow you are bound at some point to find a biological relative; however distant.

Some setbacks, if you are female - you can really only test your maternal ancestral heritage because you do not carry the Y-Chromosome of your paternal heritage - it is actually destroyed at conception.  However, a male can test for both his maternal and paternal lineage via Y-Chromosome and mtDNA testing because the male carries by Y and X chromosomes.  Keep in mind, ancestral DNA tests are not considered legally admissible in court for matters of Estates and Wills.