Gina Daniel DSW, LCSW
Welcome! I’m Gina. I discovered my NPE status the day after Father’s Day in June 2018 after completing a recreational ancestry DNA test. While I was quite shocked with this discovery, my entire life began to make a lot more sense. At the time I was in a doctorate program and I made the decision to study the NPE experience for my research. It was incredibly healing and rewarding to hear the experiences of other NPEs but also reinforced an understanding of what was lacking for individuals going through this new, typically unexpected, experience.
As a licensed social worker working in mental health, I am making it part of my mission to educate NPEs, their families and the professional community about this phenomenon. Misattributed paternity is not new to society but learning about it through a recreational test certainly is! We hope to educate, heal, and grow along with you through this process.
Listen to Gina's story on NPE Stories or Everything's Relative with Eve Sturges
Richard Wenzel, Pharm.D.
Hello, I'm Richard. As a child, I endured a difficult-to-understand disconnect between my father and myself. I voiced my concerns to my mother many times, during childhood and adulthood, yet she always dismissed my questions. Strangely, I never felt compelled to challenge her responses. Sadly, she passed away in 2004, taking key knowledge to her grave.
In 2020, a DNA test revealed that my father is not my biological father. I admired my mother and now struggle to accept her decades-long deceptions. She was likely motivated by shame. I wish she could have embraced truth's liberation.
I subsequently learned that my biological father died years ago. Today, I recurrently feel adrift, plagued by many questions, but with nobody to offer answers. Nevertheless, I have resolved to move my life forward and I hope to share that journey with other people in similar circumstances.
Listen to Richard's story on NPE Stories