Chapter 1: What drives Jess to continue her search for her biological father?
Tortoise investigates.
Do I think about going to see these guys? I mean, this is kind of act two of this strange story, isn't it? I'm in a taxi with my producer, Katie, and we're on our way to meet one of Jess's newly discovered half-sisters and her mother. Kim and Debbie have experienced something really... It's like this terrible, terrible loss. We're trying to piece together how it came to be.
I'm speaking to them on the phone. I know how they're angry, really angry. The stakes feel quite high.
Chapter 2: How does Jess's DNA test impact her search for family?
Because they're hoping we'll help them find answers. Yeah, exactly. When I think back to the day Jess did her DNA test, five years ago now, I picture a large stone dropping into still black water. Splash, a circle of ripples expanding outwards. And those waves, they've travelled quite far now, disturbing the water's calm surface. And they're still spreading.
Jess's DNA sample has already linked her to her birth mother. Now Jess is using the technology to go in search of her biological father too. This time, Jess is hoping the DNA will confirm a lead she's been given. The name of a man.
Chapter 3: What warning does Jess receive from her birth mother?
A man Jennifer was in a relationship with around the time Jess would have been conceived. So the timing stacks up. His unusual Germanic surname also stacks up, because Jess's DNA results suggest some of her genes come from that part of the world. So Jess is pretty confident she's nailed this.
But she also wants to tread carefully. And I left it for a bit, though, because I thought, OK, I found them, I know they're there. And I said, but I just need to figure out how I'm going to approach this. Particularly because she's had a warning from Jennifer.
Let sleeping dogs lie. A message urging her to stop asking questions, to call off her search for her biological father.
Chapter 4: How does Jess initiate contact with her potential father’s family?
And Jess tells me she understands the risk, that answers may come at a cost. She knows those ripples are about to disturb the calm surface of another family. And what she's learnt from contacting her birth mother is that she can't control what happens next. But she still has this void at the start of her life.
And she still wants answers. I'm not out to break up families and I'm sorry I was born. Like, what do you want me to do?
Jess gives it a few weeks before going on Facebook, and rather than contacting her possible father, she messages his five adult children. They all seem to live in the same town as their father, the same town where Jennifer grew up. It's a couple of hundred miles north of Jess.
Chapter 5: What reactions does Jess encounter from her newfound relatives?
It must be so surreal to be looking on Facebook at the profiles of people and you have such a secret that is going to burst into their lives.
I was like, I kept looking at the pictures thinking, how on earth is this going to work? Because the last thing I want to do is break up.
She keeps the message deliberately vague. She tells them she's researching her ancestry and she thinks they may be able to help. Only one of them replies. The eldest, Adam. And straight away, he seems to know exactly what Jess is looking for.
He kind of put two and two together and asked me how old I was. And then went, are you actually looking for your father?
Chapter 6: How does Jess's search affect her relationship with her birth mother?
And I thought, I didn't want to outright say that. So I was like, well, I'm just kind of looking on that side. And he was like, but you're about the right age.
Adam's into family history, so he's already done his DNA. But he's used a different company, not the ancestry site that Jess is on. So now Jess orders a new kit. Once again, a small vial of her saliva is sealed and mailed. In a laboratory somewhere, technicians in white coats extract and decode the data.
As Jess waits for the results, that warning from her birth mother, Jennifer, plays on her mind. Please have some consideration for the impact another search could have on another family.
Chapter 7: What challenges does Chloe face as Jess enters her life?
Surely Jennifer knows that Jess is bound to search for her father, so why is she trying to put her off? Why is Jennifer so anxious about Jess's search? These days, Jennifer's no longer that frightened young woman. She's a respected figure, a woman with a reputation, a livelihood, a carefully built life. Is she worried that this second DNA test threatens that in some way?
As Jess's circle widens and draws in more relatives... Jess doesn't like being compared to her mother, but I think this compulsion to find things out makes her similar to Jennifer. Remember how Jennifer's curiosity led her, someone who didn't want to be found, to take a risk and reply to that Facebook message from Jess years ago? Jennifer could have ignored it, but she didn't.
And that desire to know things from the shadow of anonymity, well, it wasn't a one-off.
Chapter 8: How does Jess find a sense of belonging with her half-sisters?
Is this the street? Yeah, this is the street. I'm Lucy Greenwell, and from Tortoise Investigates and The Observer, this is Foundling. Episode 4, The Fallout. It doesn't take long for the DNA results to come back. They confirm, just as Jess suspected, Lewis is her father. That man in the blurry photos Jess was shown taken in the pub back in the late 80s.
So you text your birth dad and you know who it is. You've got a little bit of information from his eldest son, your new found half-brother, about him. What do you say to him in that text?
I first messaged him on the 18th of August of 2022. And I said, hi, it's Jess. Bit of a crazy day all round. I'm sure it's come as a shock to you, Jess. He replied and said, it's knocked me sideways. I just don't know what to say at the moment. I'm sure you understand, but it's so nice to hear from you.
This new connection, like so much of the story, hinges on DNA. And I want to be sure of something. It's not that DNA can lie, but it's entirely possible to misread what it's telling you. In your results, a close match tells you how much DNA you share with the person. It doesn't say what relation they are, because it can't.
You share the exact same proportion of DNA, 25%, with someone who's your nephew, your uncle, or indeed your half-sibling. So there's room for mistakes.
My name is Michelle Leonard. I am a professional genealogist, DNA detective. I wear a lot of hats, but primarily I focus and specialize on solving mysteries, especially complex mysteries, using DNA testing.
And Michelle tells me too many people assume the DNA test process is straightforward. Spit is Lab, name pops out. In truth, it's a bit more complex than this. DNA is microscopic in size, but mighty in impact. Michelle uses it to help clients find answers about their families.
Everyone has the right to know where you come from, the right to know who your parents were and the right to have your medical history and know things that might be really important to your medical future as well.
That right to understand where you come from means Michelle will go digging whatever the potential fallout is.
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