NPE Awareness Day
"NPE" is an acronym with a history originating in the term “non-paternity event” — a term used in the medical setting when parent/child mismatches were uncovered as a result of clinical genetic testing.
When the genealogy world began to use DNA tests to search for biological connections between people in their family trees, many reasons for a non-match between people and their supposed genetic family members were discovered. Hidden adoptions and the use of egg donors implicated people in non-maternal events. Misattributed parentage includes unexpected parent mismatches of many types. The genealogist Emily Aulicino was the first to begin using NPE to mean “not the parent expected” and the use has continued throughout the years (see reference 3, ISOGG NPE page on Wikipedia).
NPE has also become the term for a person who has discovered one or both parents is not genetically related to them, popularized by the first wide-spread NPE support organization, NPE Friends Fellowship. I have communicated with many people who identify with this term and who will introduce themselves as “an NPE.”
Researchers around the world (from Israel to Australia to the US and UK) are studying the emotional experience of making a discovery that a parent (most commonly Dad) is not biologically related. More about that in an upcoming blog post!
Others have begun to use an alternative term MPE, standing either for misattributed parentage event or misattributed parentage experience. When each term is used and by whom depends on which group you belong to. Members of the Facebook group Genetic Genealogy Tips and Techniques, started and led by Blaine Bettinger, use MPE to mean misattributed parentage event. Those in the Right To Know organization use the same acronym to mean misattributed parentage experience.
WHICHEVER TERM YOU CHOSE, YOU ARE CORRECT!
All are being used by individuals who can help you find your way to support and understanding when you’re affected. When it’s your experience, it’s up to you which terminology you choose to explain how you feel, how you identify as an individual, and what you’ve been through. If you do not relate to any of these terms, that is also okay.
At Watershed DNA, we try to use DNA discovery or DNA surprise most often. Some people come looking for support for unexpected ethnicity, some for unexpected health risks, and others for an NPE/MPE discovery.
In light of NPE awareness day, July 27th, take some time to listen to the following episodes of DNA Clarity and Support. You’ll learn about the NPE experience through the words of some people who have lived it.
“Taking the mindful approach to a DNA surprise”
“Appreciating a sense of peace once it comes”
