Ward and McLaughlin Found Out They Were Sisters Through MyHeritage
Ward, who owns a taxi company with her husband in the UK, initiated the reunion. She knew her biological mother had placed her for adoption but had long wondered about her ethnic heritage. So, she made a Christmas present to herself in 2018 and bought access to DNA testing and a genealogy search through MyHeritage. She believed she could find her mother or father but never thought about siblings. So, when the research came back showing a link to a possible cousin, that cousin later directed Ward to a possible half-sister.
Ward got excited and McLaughlin agreed to accept contact from her through the site, McLaughlin, who is a former special education teacher who now sells tutoring programs, was intrigued but skeptical because she thought she was an only child. Her relationship with their biological mother was rather complicated because while she attempted to raise McLaughlin, she dropped the child off with a babysitter one day and didn’t return. Eventually, the babysitter and her husband became McLaughlin’s legal guardians and her biological mother was just a peripheral figure in her life.
