The Center is a nonprofit corporation with tax-exempt, tax-deductible status (501c3) with the purpose of furthering domestic and international adoption and the understanding of the adoption experience.  The Center has been researching for some time the use of DNA profiles for the identification and location of birth family members.  Only recently has technology advanced to the level that it is possible to reliably identify siblings through genetic samples without a sample from a birth parent.  Once this became possible, a committee of the Center conducted substantial research to select a testing process and laboratory of sufficient repute and capability to house the DNA databank of adoptee samples for a long-term project and to design a program that would meet the unique and comprehensive needs of triad families members that become connected through this process. 

Specifically, the Center’s staff has met and consulted with various experts from a wide variety of disciplines and has designed the proper protocols and program services necessary to ethically, reliably and economically serve the adoptee population.  The experts consulted included:

• a Harvard bioethicist specializing in gene banks and gene testing
• a Harvard law professor specializing in adoption law
• a Harvard law professor expert in China, U.S.-China relations, and Chinese marriage and family law
• a Lecturer on Bioethics at the Medical College of Beijing University and a representative of China’s new National Gene Bank project established by China’s Ministry of Science and Technology, Center for Technological Knowledge, visiting the Harvard School of Public Health as an Ethics Fellow to study gene banking
• a nationally-recognized pediatrician expert in treating internationally adopted children
• a director of the National Genome Project in the U.S.
• a representative of the U.K. Biobank, national gene bank project
• a Professor from Iceland expert on the Iceland national gene bank project

In addition, staff have exhausted the literature, research and studies available on the fast-evolving fields of gene banking, gene counseling, family reunion counseling, and the forensics of DNA testing for the purpose of identifying genealogy.  Staff attended the recent Program on Science, Technology and Society Seminar "Bioethics and the Global Governance of Human Genetic Databases" at the Kennedy School of Government of Harvard University. The legal framework for the Registry and its databank and program services have been designed by attorneys led by a Harvard attorney and Research Fellow and provides the maximum protections to all members of the adoption triad that choose to participate in the Registry. To develop its service program, the staff has had multiple meetings with its bioethicist, social workers, and adoptive parents to discuss and plan the appropriate and necessary services to be offered by the Registry.  It is currently reaching out to all members of the adoption triad, including adult adoptees and families with children who are the result of donor eggs or sperm, and invites those who may be interested in serving on the Registry’s Advisory Board to contact the Center. 

The Center is committed to continuing its study and research in the area of gene banking and identification by DNA profiling and is confident that Orchid Biosciences, Inc. is well-positioned and equipped to research and implement cutting-edge technology in this area as this field develops.