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What would you do if a simple DNA test revealed that the man you believed was your father wasn’t your biological parent?

In this episode of Family Twist, Corey and Kendall sit down with Laura Olmsted, founder of DNAngels, to talk about the moment a family history project turned into a life-changing DNA discovery. What began as a curiosity-driven test while building a genealogy scrapbook for her grandchildren quickly unraveled everything Laura thought she knew about her identity.

Laura shares the emotional journey of uncovering the truth about her biological father, confronting long-held family secrets, and learning that the answers sometimes come too late. But from that painful discovery came something remarkable. Determined to help others navigate the same confusing and emotional terrain, Laura founded DNAngels, a nonprofit that helps adoptees, NPEs, donor-conceived people, and others identify their biological families through genetic genealogy.

Today, DNAngels has helped solve thousands of cases around the world, reuniting people with their biological relatives and helping many finally understand where they come from.

Laura also shares practical insights about the DNA search process, why messaging your DNA matches matters more than you might think, and the steps people should take before beginning a search.

For anyone who has taken a DNA test and found unexpected results, this conversation offers both perspective and hope.

Learn more about DNAngels:
https://www.dnangels.org

About Laura Olmsted

Laura Olmsted is a world-renowned genetic genealogist and the Founder and Executive Director of DNAngels, a nonprofit organization dedicated to reuniting individuals with their biological families through the power of DNA. Since launching DNAngels in 2019, Laura has led the organization to remarkable success, with over 7,000 cases solved to date and thousands more people receiving answers about their origins.

Laura’s passion for genealogy began as a family project inspired by her Aunt Shirley. While creating a heritage book for her grandchildren, she took a DNA test and discovered a life-altering truth: the man she believed to be her father was not her biological parent. Determined to uncover her origins, Laura immersed herself in genetic genealogy. Within two weeks, she identified her biological father, gaining firsthand insight into the emotional complexities faced by adoptees, NPEs, and donor-conceived individuals.

That experience ultimately led her to create DNAngels, an organization that now helps people around the world uncover the truth about their biological families.

Topics in this episode

DNA surprise
NPE (Not Parent Expected) discovery
Genetic genealogy
Adoptee searches
DNA matches and family secrets
Finding biological parents
DNAngels nonprofit
Identity and family history

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What happens when a family secret rewrites your identity?

In this episode of Family Twist, Corey and Kendall welcome author Gail Lukasik, whose work explores the powerful impact of hidden family histories and DNA discoveries.

Gail reads a moving excerpt from her book What They Never Told Us: True Stories of Family Secrets and Hidden Identities Revealed, inspired by the flood of personal stories she received after sharing her own family revelation. At the Untangling Our Roots Summit, one stranger approached her with a brand-new DNA shock. The man who raised her was not her biological father.

Gail knows this journey firsthand. While researching her family history in 1995, she uncovered documents revealing that her mother had been passing as white despite having African ancestry. For 17 years she kept the secret at her mother’s request. After her mother’s death, Gail told the story in her memoir White Like Her, which eventually led her to reconnect with relatives in New Orleans she never knew existed.

In this conversation, Gail shares why strangers trust her with their deepest family secrets and why storytelling can help people rebuild their sense of identity after a life-changing discovery.

If you have ever wondered how DNA surprises reshape identity, family, and belonging, this episode will resonate.

About Gail Lukasik

Gail Lukasik is an award-winning author and genealogist. Her memoir White Like Her chronicles her discovery that her mother had been passing as white despite having African ancestry. Her follow-up book, What They Never Told Us, shares true stories of people uncovering hidden family identities through genealogy and DNA testing.

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What happens when a child asks a question the adults in the room aren’t ready to answer?

In this episode of Family Twist, Corey sits down with Dr. Vicki Sanders, a psychologist who has spent decades working with adopted and foster children, and the families raising them. Her work lives in the spaces most people avoid, the pauses, the deflections, the “we don’t need to talk about that right now” moments that shape identity in ways we don’t always see.

This conversation focuses on what children carry.

Dr. Vicki shares what she has witnessed again and again in therapy rooms:

• The questions adopted and foster children want to ask but are afraid to
• How silence, even well-intentioned silence, shapes identity
• The difference between protecting a child and protecting adult comfort
• What ambiguous loss looks like in children and teens
• How shame and secrecy can quietly impact attachment
• What it sounds like when a child tests whether it’s safe to be curious

We also talk about how adoptive and foster parents can respond differently, not perfectly, but openly. Dr. Vicki challenges the idea that love alone resolves identity tension. Instead, she offers practical ways to stay present when uncomfortable questions arise.

This is a conversation about courage, on both sides.

Catch Dr. Vicki at Untangling Our Roots

Dr. Vicki will be speaking at the upcoming Untangling Our Roots conference, where she’ll go deeper into:

• How to create emotional safety around hard conversations
• Supporting adopted and foster youth through identity exploration
• Recognizing trauma responses tied to secrecy and silence
• Practical language parents can use when biological family questions surface

If you’re attending UTOR, her session will offer tools you can take home immediately, whether you’re an adoptee, parent, clinician, or advocate.

If you’ve ever sensed there were things you weren’t allowed to ask, or if you’re raising a child who is beginning to ask them now, this episode is for you.

Family secrets are the ultimate plot twist.

About Dr. Vicki

Dr. Vicki is a licensed psychologist with decades of clinical experience working with adopted and foster children, adoptive families, and youth navigating attachment disruption and trauma. Her work centers on identity development, ambiguous loss, family systems, and helping children find language for experiences that often go unspoken.

She has supported foster youth transitioning into permanency, trained parents in trauma-informed care, and helped families move from silence and defensiveness to openness and emotional safety.

Through her clinical practice and public speaking, Dr. Vicki advocates for honest conversations that allow children to explore their origins without fear, shame, or secrecy.