Family Twist: A Podcast Exploring DNA Surprises and Family Secrets
Family Twist shares real-life stories of DNA surprises, adoption, donor conception, NPE discoveries, and the secrets that reshape families.
Hosted by Corey and Kendall Stulce, each episode explores what happens when the truth about identity, parentage, or family history comes to light. These revelations sometimes happen by choice, often by accident, and always with life-changing impact.
Through candid conversations with adoptees, donor-conceived people, late-discovery NPEs, birth parents, and family members who are navigating unexpected truths, Family Twist looks beyond the initial shock. We explore what comes next. We talk about the relationships that grow or break, the boundaries that help or hurt, the grief that surfaces, and the unexpected connections that can heal.
Kendall's personal journey plays an important role in the heart of the show. He was adopted at birth, searched for decades, and eventually discovered his biological family through a DNA test. His experience brings empathy, humor, and honesty to every conversation. Corey brings warmth and insight as the couple creates space for guests to share the real, complicated, hopeful, and often surprising moments behind their family twists.
If you are searching for your people, untangling a difficult discovery, or simply fascinated by the truth behind modern families, this podcast will remind you that you are not alone and that your story matters.
New episodes arrive every week, including in-depth interviews and shorter Story Snapshots that highlight powerful moments from our guests.
Have a Family Twist of your own? Share it with us.
Episodes
227 episodes
What Horror Fans Understand About Trauma and Healing
Can horror movies actually help us heal?In this special crossover episode with Horror Heals, Corey sits down for a conversation that might surprise Family Twist listeners. While one podcast explores DNA surprises, adoptio...
What Happens When You Finally Look Like Someone?
Julie Ann Brumley expected a DNA test to answer a few questions.She didn't expect to find a sister, a 100% Italian biological father, or an entire family where she could finally see herself reflected in someone else's face.In part...
A Therapist Faces Her Own DNA Surprise in Real Time
What happens when a mental health professional finds herself navigating a DNA surprise of her own?In this deeply personal episode of Family Twist, Corey and Kendall sit down with Angie Miller, licensed mental health therapist, wellness c...
“There’s No Way You’re Half White” and Other Things TikTok Got Right
Nicole thought TikTok was being ridiculous. After posting wedding videos online, strangers flooded the comments insisting there was “no way” she was half white like she’d always believed. Some people were curious. Others were cruel. But the com...
“You Don’t Get to Tell Adoptees How to Feel”
What happens when you spend more than 40 years sensing something about your life doesn’t add up… only to discover you were right all along?In this deeply emotional and unforgettable episode of Family Twist, Corey and Kendall sit down wit...
The Search for His Mother’s Past Led to a Shocking Discovery
What happens when your search for family stretches across decades, dead ends, sealed records, and fading hope?In part two of this deeply personal conversation, Corey and Kendall continue their discussion with author and journalist Paul T...
He Opened the Envelope His Mother Told Him to Destroy
What would you do if, on the day you buried your mother, you discovered a hidden bundle of records labeled with one clear instruction: Please destroy these?In this gripping first part of Corey and Kendall’s conversation with ret...
The Reality of Donor Conception in the Age of DNA Testing
What happens when a sperm donor from the 1990s suddenly discovers he has children decades later?This is one of those stories that could only happen right now.A decision made in the early ’90s, when anonymity was expected and prote...
He Donated Sperm in 1994. Decades Later, His Kids Found Him
What happens when a sperm donor from the 1990s suddenly discovers he has children decades later? This is one of those stories that could only happen right now.A decision made in the early ’90s, when anonymity was expect...
From Forced Adoption to DNA Discovery: Zara’s Story of Finding Family | Episode 200
What happens when your story starts with secrecy… and ends with a global family?In this milestone Episode 200 of Family Twist, Kendall sits down with author, musician, and adoptee Zara, whose life began in England during th...
Her DNA Discovery Became a Movie. The Real Story Is Even Bigger.
What happens when a life-altering DNA discovery becomes a feature film… and then gets unpacked in a room full of people who truly understand it?In this special live episode of Family Twist, Corey sits down with filmmaker, actor,...
From Only Child to One of Twelve
What happens when you go from being an only child… to one of twelve overnight?In this episode of Family Twist, and Kendall sits down with Elizabeth Barbour, an adoptee, adoptive mom, and reunion expert who has spen...
She Placed Two Sons for Adoption. Then Spent a Lifetime Helping Families Heal.
What does adoption feel like for the person who never had a choice?In this episode of Family Twist, Corey and Kendall talk with Leslie Pate Mackinnon, LCSW, a birth mother, therapist, and one of the most respected voices in the adoption ...
A DNA Test, a Family Secret, and the Birth of DNAngels
What would you do if a simple DNA test revealed that the man you believed was your father wasn’t your biological parent?In this episode of Family Twist, Corey and Kendall sit down with Laura Olmsted, founder of DNAngel...
Her Mother Passed as White. The Truth Stayed Hidden for Decades
What happens when a family secret rewrites your identity?In this episode of Family Twist, Corey and Kendall welcome author Gail Lukasik, whose work explores the powerful impact of hidden family histories and DNA discoveries...
The Questions Adopted Kids Are Afraid to Ask
What happens when a child asks a question the adults in the room aren’t ready to answer?In this episode of Family Twist, Corey sits down with Dr. Vicki Sanders, a psychologist who has spent decades working with adopted and foste...
She Didn’t Choose Adoption. It Was Chosen for Her.
What does adoption feel like for the person who never had a choice?In this episode of Family Twist, Corey and Kendall talk with Leslie Pate Mackinnon, LCSW, a birth mother, therapist, and one of the most respected voices in the adoption ...
Don’t Ever Ask About Your Father Again
What if your father’s childhood was a handful of strange fragments, a “castle,” a room with 25 beds, hunger, silence, and a single forbidden question.Filmmaker David Quint grew up sensing his dad was different, but nobody explained why. ...
The Lie That Raised Me Part Three
Reunion is not always soft.In Part Three of this powerful late discovery adoptee story, Alicia Sharon Denise Williams steps into the aftermath of truth.After learning she was adopted, after uncovering sealed Michigan adoption reco...
The Lie That Raised Me Part Two
She logged back in.After months of denial, after accusing AncestryDNA of switching samples, after trying to shove the results back into the box, Alicia Sharon Denise Williams opened her DNA account again.The first cousin matches w...
The Lie That Raised Me Part One
She thought she knew her story.In 2021, a casual AncestryDNA test reopened questions Alicia had quietly carried her entire life. Why did she never see her original birth certificate? Why was her birthday often forgotten? Why did her brot...
From International Adoption to Reclaiming Citizenship
What happens when your story begins in one country, is rewritten in another, and then calls you back decades later?In this powerful episode of Family Twist, Corey and Kendall sit down with Sandi Morgan Caesar to explore a life shaped by...
“Our Father” Lit the Fuse
A Netflix documentary about fertility fraud lit the fuse.After watching Our Father, a question would not let go: how do you actually know donor conception was handled ethically, and how do you know the story you were told is tru...