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Places to Talk About It

There are private support groups on Facebook for people who learn through taking direct-to-consumer genetic tests that who they thought their biological parents are actually aren't, the Atlantic reports.

It adds Catherine St. Clair started one after she found out by taking the AncestryDNA test that her biological father wasn't the dad she'd grown up with. After connecting with another woman with a similar experience, St. Clair went looking for support groups and, not finding any, started her own on Facebook, it adds, noting the group has more than 1,000 members. The Atlantic adds that there are a number of other support groups online that range in size and focus.

"It was better than therapy," Dawn, a member of the group St. Clair started, tells the Atlantic. "I tried therapy. It didn't work."

Both 23andMe and AncestryDNA warn in their terms of service that people could learn something unexpected about their families through testing, but some people who've experienced similar unexpected findings tell the Atlantic that testing companies should give more of a warning about surprises people could learn.