DNA Project – Beteseb Felega Ethiopian Adoption Connection
Please read this page for important information about how our Databases work.
Many adoptees were abandoned without any information about their families. DNA will be the only way to definitively prove relationships for these cases. Instead of doing individual testing on a case by case basis, we have initiated our own DNA Project. Through the generosity of FTDNA, we are able to provide adoptees with discounted Family Finder, or Autosomal, kits. Testing for Ethiopian family initiated searches is free for them and subsidized by Beteseb Felega – Ethiopian Adoption Connection. If you would like to donate to this effort, please visit this link.
Fees
Because the costs are high for this project, a fee of $300 will be assessed for contact information and family interviews of Ethiopian family matches. To ensure the Ethiopian family gets an update at the very least, we will also ask you to provide a short letter with some photos which we can deliver to them. This fee of $300 partially covers the following: the kit cost, our social worker time finding and vetting mothers who abandoned, time traveling to meet the family member, interviewing the family member, and getting the sample, the costs of transporting the kits, our time working with FTDNA, posting the cases, and keeping track of all the information, the infrastructure which allows us to do this (website, social workers with families for whom this is their job, legal and legalization fees, office rent, taxes, internet, computers, phones, etc), the hours and money Andrea donates every week for the last 10 years, and so on. It’s a lot of work and it costs a lot of money. The processing of our first 43 completed kits from Ethiopian families represents $2,000, not counting the time, travel, social worker costs, and so on. We had hoped to be able to support this project through voluntary donations. Unfortunately, we have not received enough donations to continue the project without charging to recoup some of the cost.
If you would like more information on doing DNA, privacy, and more, please visit Family Tree DNA.
Instructions for Adoptees and Adoptive Parents:
If you have already tested at FTDNA, send an email to DNA @ EthiopianAdoptionConnection.org requesting an invitation to the group. Include this information with your request: adoptee’s real name (first name is fine if minor), Ethiopian name of adoptee (full name if you have it), adoptive parent’s name if applicable, status as adoptee or adoptive parent of minor child, adoptive country, and the location you believe you/your child was from in Ethiopia: Region and Zone. This is only for Beteseb Felega and will not be associated with your kit number.
If you have a kit from 23andme or another service, you can transfer to FTDNA and receive matches for a fee of $19 to FTDNA. To do this, go to FTDNA and click on Upload DNA Data in the menu at the top. Then email DNA @ EthiopianAdoptionConnection.org for an invitation to the group. Inckude this information: adoptee’s real name (first name is fine if minor), Ethiopian name of adoptee (full name if you have it), adoptive parent’s name if applicable, status as adoptee or adoptive parent of minor child, adoptive country, and the location you believe you/your child was from in Ethiopia: Region and Zone. This is only for Beteseb Felega and will not be associated with your kit number.
If you do not have a kit to transfer from another company, follow the instructions below. This information is used solely to determine who meets the requirements of the project; it will not be associated with your actual DNA kit or account. Once you provide the information requested, we will send you a coupon code for a discounted kit along with the link to join. Emails will be responded to in bulk so please be patient.
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- Send an email to DNA @ EthiopianAdoptionConnection.org.
- Include adoptee’s real name (first name is fine if minor), Ethiopian name of adoptee (full name if you have it), adoptive parent’s name if applicable, status as adoptee or adoptive parent of minor child, adoptive country, and the location you believe you/your child was from in Ethiopia: Region and Zone. This is only for Beteseb Felega and will not be associated with your kit number.
- You will be sent a coupon code for a discounted kit along with the link to join.
- Purchase your kit with the code at FTDNA.
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Finally – to have access to all Ethiopians in all databases, you should enter your DNA into all of them. We will send a FAQ about this when you join our project.
Important note – Once you are invited and join, you must be ‘checked off’ on the site to be in the project. If you are not sure if you are really in the project after responding to the invitation, please let Andrea know at [email protected].
We strongly urge everyone who signs up for this project to pay it forward by donating the funds for an Ethiopian family to be DNA tested.
In adoptive family/adoptee initiated paid searches where relationship validation is required, we provide a discount code for both parties but not free kits.
This is the Activity Feed of the group. If you can see this when logged in, you are in.
Please read this page for important information about how our Databases work.
