Family Twist: A Podcast Exploring DNA Surprises and Family Secrets

Corey and Kendall Stulce

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.

  1. 21h ago

    Everyone Knew He Was Adopted Except Him

    Send us Fan Mail Want more Corey and Kendall? Join us on Patreon for Family Twist After Hours, our weekly unfiltered bonus show with personal stories, behind-the-scenes conversations, family chaos, and plenty we wouldn't normally share on Family Twist. Join us: https://www.patreon.com/c/FamilyTwistPodcastAfterHours Imagine learning at 52 that you were adopted because your mother’s oncologist casually mentioned it during a phone call. Al Isaacs had spent his life believing he was an only child with loving parents and an ordinary birth certificate. Then one accidental comment exposed a secret his family had kept for more than five decades. There was no simple way to ask his parents for answers. Both were living with dementia, and his father was nearing the end of his life. When Al turned to an aunt, she confirmed the truth with six devastating words: “I always wanted to tell you.” The documents Al had trusted were false. His adoption had been arranged through the gray market, leaving him with few reliable records and an enormous question: Who was Mary Smith? In this episode, Al talks with Corey about: Discovering at 52 that he had been adoptedRealizing other relatives had known the truth for decadesLoving his parents while struggling with what they concealedThe false paperwork behind his gray-market adoptionUsing DNA, genealogy and Search Angels to find answersDiscovering a biological sister he never knew existedSearching for a birth mother with an extraordinarily common nameLearning that Mary had been a gifted folk singerFinding photographs, records and performances that brought her past to lifeUsing humor to tell a painful story without diminishing itMary’s trail leads through the Greenwich Village music scene, a 1968 talent competition hosted by Duke Ellington and recordings that had nearly disappeared. At one point, an old photograph of a woman holding a guitar becomes a vital clue in a search that repeatedly seems impossible. Al tells the story in "Finding Mary Smith: A Memoir of Family Secrets, Gray Market Adoption, and the Miracle Reunion with My Mom," winner of the 2026 Global Book Awards Gold Medal for Biographical/Memoir. The book and audiobook are available wherever books are sold, and Al’s collection of photographs, songs and rare footage can be found at alisaacs.com. Support the show

  2. Sep 8

    The DNA Match She Almost Ignored

    Send us Fan Mail Want more Corey and Kendall? Join us on Patreon for Family Twist After Hours, our weekly unfiltered bonus show with personal stories, behind-the-scenes conversations, family chaos and plenty we would not normally share on Family Twist. Join us: https://www.patreon.com/c/FamilyTwistPodcastAfterHours Nicole Davis had already found her biological mother’s side of the family years earlier, but she had pretty much given up on finding her father. In fact, she had been led to believe he was dead. Then an Ancestry notification showed up while she was getting ready for Jazz Fest. Nicole was busy, didn’t think much of it and ignored it. She ignored the message that followed, too. It took a Facebook friend request to finally get her attention. The match was 27 percent. That’s how Nicole found a sister she didn’t know she had, and how she learned that the biological father she had believed was dead for 12 years was actually alive. In Part 2, Nicole tells us what it has been like getting to know her father and discovering that she has several sisters, including one close in age to her own child. We also talk about the family relationships that haven’t been nearly as easy, including why Nicole has stepped away from her adoptive parents and why she hasn’t told her adoptive father everything she has learned. Since Nicole is also a serious horror fan, there was no keeping horror out of the conversation. We talk about growing up with evangelical Hell Houses and Rapture movies, the “evil adoptee” trope that horror has leaned on for decades, and why Myth of the Ghost Kingdom got the adoptee experience right in ways she rarely sees onscreen. Nicole also tells us about The Music of Us, the book she’s writing about roots, music and the stories that connect them. Family secrets are the ultimate plot twist. Support the show

  3. Sep 1

    Did George Wallace Help Arrange Her Adoption?

    Send us Fan Mail Want more Corey and Kendall? Join us on Patreon for Family Twist After Hours, our weekly unfiltered bonus show with personal stories, behind-the-scenes conversations, family chaos and plenty we would not normally share on Family Twist. Join us: https://www.patreon.com/c/FamilyTwistPodcastAfterHours Nicole Davis always knew she was adopted. What she didn’t know was how strange the story behind her adoption would look once she started examining it as an adult. Nicole was born in Alabama in 1974. Her adoptive parents had spent years trying to have a child and then trying to adopt. According to the family story, they eventually failed a home inspection because a step between their kitchen and sunken living room wasn’t up to code. Then Nicole’s mother wrote a letter to Alabama Governor George Wallace. Within a few months, her parents got a call. They drove to Montgomery and brought Nicole home. Her mother has always believed Wallace made it happen. Nicole grew up thinking that was a great story. Today, she has a lot more questions about it. In Part 1 of our conversation, Nicole talks about growing up adopted in rural Alabama, the family she was raised in and the fears that followed her from childhood. As a little girl, she worried someone would come and take her away. Eventually, she found herself staring down the road and hoping someone from her biological family would show up and do exactly that.  Years later, Nicole began finding biological relatives and learning how much of what she thought she knew about her origins was incomplete or simply wrong. Then an Ancestry match appeared. Nicole initially ignored it. When she finally looked more closely, she discovered she shared 27 percent DNA with the woman trying to contact her. She had found a sister. That sister had another surprise: the biological father Nicole had believed was dead for 12 years was alive. Nicole also happens to be a serious horror fan, and the connection between her adoption experience and the things that scare her is fascinating. Horror gave her something real life often didn’t: predictable fear. Freddy Krueger had rules. A Stephen King novel had an ending. Her childhood could be much harder to predict. That makes Nicole a natural crossover guest for Family Twist and our other podcast, Horror Heals. In Part 1, we talk about adoption trauma, abandonment, biological family, DNA discoveries, rural Alabama, evangelical Christianity, the questions surrounding Nicole’s adoption and the possibility that George Wallace played a role in how she became part of her adoptive family. And just when you think Nicole’s family story couldn’t sound more like a horror movie, she says it herself: Her family dynamic is “a nightmare.” Part 2 is coming next week. Remember, family secrets are the ultimate plot twist. Support the show

  4. Aug 25

    The Indigenous Identity Adoption Couldn’t Erase

    Send us Fan Mail Want more Corey and Kendall? Join us on Patreon for Family Twist After Hours, our weekly unfiltered bonus show with personal stories, behind-the-scenes conversations, family chaos and plenty we would not normally share on Family Twist. Join us: https://www.patreon.com/c/FamilyTwistPodcastAfterHours What does it mean to reclaim an Indigenous identity you didn’t have the opportunity to grow up with? In Part 2 of our conversation with Monica Hall and Kristal Parke, we explore one of the connections that first brought these two women together: they are both adoptees, and they are both Cree. Kristal talks about growing up without a connection to her Indigenous culture and the complicated feeling of not being “Indigenous enough.” Finding other Indigenous adoptees who are also trying to reconnect has given her something she didn’t have growing up: people who understand that conflict without needing it explained. Monica understands it well. She didn’t know she was Indigenous until she connected with members of her biological family. She later learned that her father spoke fluent Cree and that her great-grandmother was a medicine woman. In the 1990s, Monica began exploring the culture she hadn’t grown up with. Her aunt taught her to bead and make medicine bags. As an herbalist, Monica wanted to learn about the healing plants of her people. She attended powwows, and her daughter became a fancy dancer. And yet, Monica admits there’s still a part of her that wonders whether she deserves to call herself Cree. She didn’t experience the prejudice members of her biological family faced. She wasn’t raised speaking the language, and much of the cultural knowledge in her family wasn’t passed down. Adoption separated her from those experiences before she had any choice in the matter.  That shared uncertainty is part of what connected Monica and Kristal. They can recognize each other as strong Indigenous women even when claiming that identity for themselves can be more complicated. We also talk about Kristal’s documentary about Monica’s life, Life’s a Mother, the response to its trailer, their shared sobriety and the friendship that has grown far beyond the film itself. Kristal also explains why staying with Monica comes with some serious “mom energy,” although Monica’s particular brand of mothering apparently includes the occasional, “Look at me when I talk to you.” If you missed Part 1, The Genetic Sexual Attraction Nobody Talks About, start there, then join us for Part 2 and a conversation about Cree heritage, adoption, cultural identity and finding your own relationship with a history that was always yours. Remember, family secrets are the ultimate plot twist. Support the show

  5. Aug 18

    The Genetic Sexual Attraction Nobody Talks About

    Send us Fan Mail Want more Corey and Kendall? Join us on Patreon for Family Twist After Hours, our weekly unfiltered bonus show with personal stories, behind-the-scenes conversations, family chaos and plenty we would not normally share on Family Twist. Join us: https://www.patreon.com/c/FamilyTwistPodcastAfterHours Genetic sexual attraction is one of the most difficult and misunderstood possibilities that can emerge after biological family reunion. For decades, Monica Hall rarely spoke about her own experience with it. In part one of this special two-part Family Twist conversation, Monica returns alongside filmmaker and fellow adoptee Kristal Parke. Their friendship began after Monica learned about another Cree adoptee in Canada and decided she needed to find her. One Facebook message and an hour-long phone conversation later, a friendship had begun. Eventually, that friendship became something neither of them expected: Kristal started making a documentary about Monica’s life. The film gives Monica an opportunity to talk about parts of her story she previously wasn’t ready to share publicly, including a relationship with a man she learned was her half-brother. Monica speaks openly about genetic sexual attraction, the intensity of that relationship, the shame she carried afterward and why she kept it largely secret for decades. She also discusses addiction and sobriety, the grief that came when the relationship ended, and the very different perspective she has on that period of her life today. Kristal has her own difficult role in telling the story. She isn’t interviewing a stranger. Monica has become one of her closest friends. Kristal talks about moving between filmmaker and friend, knowing when to ask another question and making sure Monica remains comfortable with what ultimately appears on screen. There are plenty of laughs, too. Monica has accumulated decades of archival footage, old interviews, home movies and other surprises that she turned over to Kristal for the documentary. Some of those surprises were considerably more personal than Kristal anticipated. In this episode: Monica speaks openly about genetic sexual attraction after biological reunionWhy she kept the relationship secret from most people for decadesThe shame and grief she carried after it endedHow addiction and sobriety intersect with this period of her lifeWhy she can talk about the experience now when she couldn’t beforeHow Monica and Kristal became friendsWhy Kristal decided Monica’s life should become a documentaryThe responsibility of filming someone you also love as a friendWhat decades of Monica’s archival footage bring to the filmWe’re also relaunching Monica and Kristal’s original Family Twist episodes so listeners can hear their individual stories. Then join us next week for Part Two, when the conversation turns to another bond between Monica and Kristal: their shared Cree heritage and what it means to reconnect with Indigenous identity after adoption. Remember, family secrets are the ultimate plot twist. Support the show

  6. Aug 11

    When Adoptive Parents Stop Talking and Start Listening

    Send us Fan Mail Want more Corey and Kendall? Join us on Patreon for Family Twist After Hours, our weekly unfiltered bonus show with personal stories, behind-the-scenes conversations, family chaos and plenty we would not normally share on Family Twist. Join us: https://www.patreon.com/c/FamilyTwistPodcastAfterHours What happens when adoptive parents enter adoptee spaces and hear things that are difficult, angry or painful? Charlyn Spiering doesn’t believe the answer is to get defensive. She believes it’s to listen. Charlyn is the host of Adoption Uncovered and the mother of five children, both biological and adopted. She joins Corey and Kendall for a candid conversation about raising adopted children, talking openly about first families, respecting the parts of an adoption story that belong to the adoptee, and recognizing that even well-intentioned parents are going to make mistakes. Charlyn shares her family’s experience raising Aaron, her son adopted from India, and the effort to incorporate Indian culture into their family without claiming his identity or story as their own. She also discusses Aaron’s feelings about potentially visiting India and connecting with his first mother, including an important reality that sometimes gets lost in adoption conversations: not every adoptee wants the same kind of reunion or relationship. That opens up a fascinating conversation with Kendall about his own childhood. Kendall always knew he was adopted, but as a kid he still identified with the Native American heritage of his adoptive father. That connection wasn’t biological. It came from the man who raised him and the things they loved together. Charlyn also has a family discovery of her own. She was in college when her father revealed that she and her brother had Jewish ancestry, something previous generations had deliberately kept quiet. Years later, DNA testing helped uncover more of that missing family history. Corey, Kendall and Charlyn also get into closed adoption, searching for biological family before consumer DNA testing existed, disability and international adoption, the complicated question of first-family contact, and why adoptive parents need to make adoption something their children can actually talk about. And because this is Family Twist, the conversation eventually includes Indian food, homemade potato pancakes, Billie Eilish, K-pop, Spotify playlists and the music our parents and children use to let us into their worlds. Charlyn says something during the episode that sums up her approach to entering adoptee spaces: “I want to learn. I’m not here to tell you stuff.” Sometimes listening is the most important part of the conversation. Listen now to Family Twist and hear an adoptive parent, an adoptee and two podcasters get honest about adoption, identity, culture and who gets to tell the story. Remember, family secrets are the ultimate plot twist. Support the show

  7. Aug 4

    Little Mister Victory: Solving an 80-Year Family Mystery

    Send us Fan Mail Want more Corey and Kendall? Join us on Patreon for Family Twist After Hours, our weekly unfiltered bonus show with personal stories, behind-the-scenes conversations, family chaos and plenty we would not normally share on Family Twist. Join us: https://www.patreon.com/c/FamilyTwistPodcastAfterHours A baby abandoned on one of America's most historic days. A mystery that lasted nearly eighty years. Could modern DNA finally reveal the truth? On August 15, 1945, while crowds filled Boston Common celebrating the end of World War II, a young woman handed her infant son to a teenage newsboy, slipped him a few dollars, and disappeared. That baby grew up to become Tina Drzal's father. For decades, his family knew only fragments of the story. Who was his mother? Why did she leave him? Did she ever try to find him? And what happened after that unforgettable day? Joining Corey are Tina Drzal and Boston historian David Kruh, co-authors of Little Mister Victory. Together, they combined newspaper archives, historical records, DNA testing, and years of detective work to reconstruct one of the most remarkable adoption stories we've ever featured. This conversation explores:  How one newspaper article restarted a decades-long search  Using DNA to solve an adoption mystery from World War II  The emotional impact of inheriting unanswered questions  Why family secrets continue to echo across generations  The surprising discoveries that completely changed the investigation  How compassion can reshape the way we view difficult decisions from the past Whether you're an adoptee, an NPE, a genealogy enthusiast, or simply love an unforgettable true story, this episode is a fascinating reminder that history is never as distant as it seems. Learn more about Little Mister Victory at littlemistervictory.com. Support the show

  8. Jul 28

    The Film Every Adoptee Should Know About

    Send us Fan Mail Want more Corey and Kendall? Join us on Patreon for Family Twist After Hours, our weekly unfiltered bonus show with personal stories, behind-the-scenes conversations, family chaos and plenty we would not normally share on Family Twist. Join us: https://www.patreon.com/c/FamilyTwistPodcastAfterHours Most movies treat adoption, donor conception, or DNA discoveries as a plot twist. Then the credits roll. But for the people living these stories, that's when life actually begins. Writer and director Jason Mullis wanted to tell a different kind of story. Before writing Myth of the Ghost Kingdom, he spent months listening to adoptees, donor-conceived people, late-discovery adoptees, NPEs, and others whose lives had been shaped by family secrets and unexpected DNA discoveries. The result is a film that doesn't simply ask, "Who are your biological parents?" It asks the much harder question: Who are you after the truth changes everything? In this episode, Jason joins Corey and Kendall to discuss:  Why authentic representation mattered from the very beginning  What he learned from the adoption and DNA-discovery communities  The responsibility of telling someone else's story  Why identity can be more powerful than any fictional plot twist  How family secrets continue to shape generations  What he hopes audiences take away from Myth of the Ghost KingdomWhether you're adopted, donor conceived, an NPE, or simply someone who's ever questioned where you belong, this conversation is a reminder that the most compelling stories are the true ones. About Jason Mullis Jason Mullis is the writer and director of Myth of the Ghost Kingdom, an independent feature film that follows a woman who discovers as an adult that she was adopted and begins searching for the truth about her identity. The film was developed with extensive input from members of the adoption and DNA-discovery communities, bringing an uncommon level of authenticity to a story about family, identity, and belonging. Support the show

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4.7
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86 Ratings

About

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.

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