DNA test reveals adoptees are sisters
Adoptive families share an obvious bond, but two Missouri parents share more – their daughters, adopted from different cities in China, are half-sisters.
The Maneage family and Galbierz family of Weldon Springs
grew close during an adoption meeting for waiting families in 2008. Two years later, the Maneage family adopted Ellianna.
In 2012, the Galbierz family had an opportunity to adopt, too. Paige In 2013, the Galbierz family traveled to China to meet and adopt Kinley.
When Paige posted a photo of Kinley on Facebook, Staci couldn’t stop staring at it.
“I remember seeing that picture and I remember a feeling coming over me,” Staci told USA TODAY. “I wasn’t speaking. I got up from where I was sitting. I got Ellianna’s picture. I was looking at Ellianna.”
The two looked nearly identical, she said. When the Galbierz family came home, Ellianna, 10, and Kinley, 7, became fast friends.
And, Staci wondered if the two shared more than looks.
She would point out the sim- ilarities to Paige, who didn’t think much of it at the time. The odds of the girls, who came from a country with a population over 1 billion, being related are slim. Ellianna was found in a hospital in Longgang and Kinley was found more than two hours away outside of a bus station in Zhuhai city. The families adopted the girls through different agencies. They also began the adoption process at different times.
Despite her husband telling her the idea was crazy, Staci asked Paige if she would be willing to have the girls DNA tested. But, the results didn’t stop the conversation. They started an entirely new one.
A DNA test done in 2015 shows the girls are 99.99% likely to be half-sisters.
“This was so overwhelming for us,” Paige said. “We really know that God has orchestrated all of this.”
Both families say it’s taken a while for everyone to fully absorb the news.
“These girls have a treasure,” Paige said. “Our job as parents is to foster it and support it.”