Global Adoptee Genealogy Project Announcement

As an adoptee this is something I found very exciting...

The following announcement was released by Mixed Roots Foundation on May 2, 2012:

In celebration of its one-year anniversary, the Mixed Roots Foundation today
proudly announces the creation of the Global Adoptee Genealogy Project (GAGP) and the establishment of a Filling in the GAGP Fund to help adopted people and their families discover their biological and cultural roots through DNA testing. Mixed Roots will launch the Fund at the Adoptee Comedy Show on Monday, May 21, 2012, at the Punch Line Comedy Club in San Francisco, CA.

GAGP’s services will be provided by DNA Testing Partners, 23andMe based in Mountain View, CA and Family Tree DNA based in Houston, Texas. The Filling in the GAGP Fund will provide monetary support for DNA testing to adoptees and their families, based on financial need. The official launch of GAGP will take place later this year.

“As an evangelist for genetic genealogy, I encounter adoptees all the time,” said Bennett Greenspan, the President of Family Tree DNA. “They want this and, more importantly, they need GAGP. Adoptees have a thirst to know who they are, what they are and why they were adopted. DNA testing offers potential answers to two of those three questions.  We hope that as the database grows, more and more matches will be made.”

“The Mixed Roots Foundation is doing something genuinely important, with real scope and vision, and with the promise of impacting many, many lives in a positive way,” said Adam Pertman, Executive Director of the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute, a national leader in adoption-related research, education and advocacy. “We know, from both research and experience, that access to one’s own information is a vital part of life, including shaping a positive identity. This project will go a long way toward giving adopted people the tools and knowledge to start putting together the pieces of their own puzzles. It’s purely wonderful.”

The Adoption Institute will play a significant role in reaching the greater adoption community about GAGP.  In addition, both DNA testing partners have donated testing kits as raffle prizes at the Adoptee Comedy Show; a portion of all proceeds from attendance at the show will go toward the Filling in the GAGP Fund.

To learn more about GAGP, the Filling in the GAGP Fund, or to buy tickets to the Adoptee Comedy Show Benefit, please LIKE Mixed Roots Foundation on Facebook, call 800.659.6958, email events@mixedrootsfoundation.org, or visit www.mixedrootsfoundation.org for more information.