A Victorian pilot study
Direct-to-Consumer Genetic Testing (DTC-GT) services are emerging as a way for those separated from family members by adoption or out of home care, to obtain information or seek connection with their lost kin.
However, practice has outstripped current knowledge and guidance for these vulnerable communities; and the impacts for those who search, those who are searched for, and the organisations that hold records, are not well understood.
This co-designed, Victorian project seeks to understand the effects of using DTC-GT services for the adoption and out of home care communities, and the accompanying ethico-legal issues for data collection, storage, use and disclosure.
This project is supported by the Melbourne Social Equity Institute's 2022 Seed Funding Round.
University-based researchers
Dr Jeanette Conrick, Department of Social Work
Dr Cate O'Neill, Faculty of Arts
Dr Ashley Barnwell, School of Social and Political Sciences
Dr Megan Prictor, Melbourne Law School
Kirsten Wright, Faculty of Arts
Nicola Laurent, Faculty of Arts
Dr Ralph Hampson, Department of Social Work
External collaborators
Charlotte Smith, VANISH
Jo Fraser, ARMS
Sharon Guy, Open Place
Health Law and Ethics Network Seminar Series
Direct-to-consumer DNA testing and data platforms for Victorians who were adopted or in out-of-home care: Experiences, impacts and ethico-legal issues
Speakers: Dr Jeanette Conrick and Dr Megan Prictor
Recorded on 25 June 2024.
For information about this project, please contact:
Dr Jeanette Conrick
School of Social Work
Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences
Email: jeanette.conrick@unimelb.edu.au