Olympic Skier Toby Dawson Finds Biological Father Using DNA Testing
When I think of paternity testing, the first image that comes to mind is of Jerry Springer interrogating a threesome on his talk show stage trying to figure out who’s the father of the unborn child. The second image that comes to mind is of Anna Nicole Smith’s daughter and the many men who’ve come forth claiming to be her father. In the end, nothing can answer it faster than a DNA test.
Even paternity tests have their shining moments without the sheen of tawdriness. Olympic skier Toby Dawson was reunited with his biological family this week. He had been adopted by an American couple at age 3 when he ended up in an orphange after becoming separated from his mother in a market in Busan, South Korea. During the search for his biological parents, dozens of men came forth claiming to be his father. Kim Jae-su provided the DNA match.
It’s a dream that many adopted children probably have especially those who are not the same ethnicity as their adoptive parents. Toby Dawson said:
Being caught in limbo between two different countries and not looking like your family is going to be tough. We need to try to keep our children and work a little bit harder to keep these circumstances from happening.
Adoptions such as Toby Dawson’s are increasingly popular. I can imagine the market for DNA testing of lost kin will be booming as the children (mostly girls) adopted from China and other developing countries become adults. DNA testing of siblings adopted into different families is already happening. The question is, will the biological parents want to be found and if they do, for what reason?
Tags: adoption, toby dawson, paternity tests, dna testing, genetics, genes, genome, dna
Very interesting story, Hsien. Thanks for sharing. Amazing what DNA can do for us these days.
ME: Fascinating, isn’t it?
As I read the news about Toby Dawson, I could help but feel like I was reading my own autobiography with the exception of finding my biological family. Like Toby Dawson, I was also adopted at an early age in the town of Tague South Korea. My story differs in that I do not know my real name or birthdate. I was left in a market and put into the orphanage on March 20, 1974 and that is the extent of the history that I know before my adoption. I want to know where to begin my search for my biological family without having to win a medal in the Olympics (which I doubt is an option).
There are so many stories of adopted Korean children with simialar stories, being left in a market, put into an oprphanage and then being adopted. It is all such a coincidence.
Lisa: Wow. Thanks for sharing your story. (((hugs))) I guess when times are hard, families do the best they can and perhaps in Korea back then, it was well known that orphanages provided good care with the potential for children to be adopted. Do you know which orphanage you were adopted from? That might be a good place to start.
the same also happened to me. when will people realize that no matter what race, it’s a horrible and racist thing to put children of one race with another. they suffer throughout childhood because of prejudice and have no one to turn to who understands them. it’s another form of racism because all they want is a baby (toy) and don’t care about the culture or identity of the child, since that is always taken away and replaced with their own instead, like giving names like Toby etc. it’s no coincidence that so many babies are put up for adoption because of a medical accident with the mother or that they were “lost in a market”. It often happens that children are stolen and false stories are given. More people need to say something. Don’t let them take away all that you are which is what always happens to asian children who are brought up by those racists. When a family comes and the child is Americanized, that is different because at least their children had a choice, but this way, they don’t because they are taught only one culture and their identity is taken away, just like those in slavery. It’s just another way of doing it.