OurHands

Siblings Hands: Dung, Michelle and Kevin.

Our Story

In the fall of 2017, Michelle received a message from a new match on her Ancestry DNA account inquiring if she was closely related to anyone who served in the Vietnam war. Knowing the only 2 choices were her father or uncle, she clicked on his profile and saw he had also matched with her brother that she grew up with.

While elated to have a new sibling she never knew about, sadness ensued when realizing he missed knowing their father by just 10 months of passing away. Michelle was determined to make up for a lifetime of missed memories. She eventually moved closer to her new brother to form a loving bond with him and his family. Together, they are helping others connect with their own biological families.

Michelle and Dung’s father was just one of thousands of Vietnam Veterans who fathered a child while serving overseas.  The repercussions of the discovery lead Michelle to do more research on other families in similar situations.

Being a 20+ year seasoned Genealogist and Researcher, Michelle’s previous experience with reuniting families were from adoption scenarios. She has successfully reunited dozens or more adoptees and long-lost relatives in the last 20+ years.

It wasn’t until meeting her new brother that she realized the magnitude of children still left seeking their American fathers. From this encounter and experience, Michelle has committed to dedicating her time and talents to help other families reconnect.

Meet the Team

Michelle Reed

Founder & Owner

Starting with her own family tree, Michelle has 20+ years of research and reconnecting families on her resume. She has found and reconnected dozens of families who were from Adoptions and Amerasians.

In her professional life, Michelle is a Graphic Designer, Website Developer, and Digital Marketing Specialist.

In the beginning of 2019, Michelle and her adult son moved from her home state of Michigan to Georgia to be closer to her brother and his family. Her blended family consists of 3 siblings, Dung, Kevin and Donna, (all sharing the same father, but with different mothers).

Their father served in the Army during the Vietnam War. He passed away in 2016, never knowing he had another son out there. RIP Dad <3

Dung Peter Pham

Partner & Vietnamese Translator (and amazing brother to Michelle)

Dung was born in Saigon, Vietnam during the height of the Vietnam War.  His mother discovered she was pregnant and fled into deep jungle territory in hopes of saving herself and her child.  Dung was raised by family in this secluded jungle area.

In early 1990, he and his mother and siblings made their way to American through the Amerasian Homecoming Act established to bring children of American Soldiers to the US. He became a US citizen and met and married his Vietnamese wife, Van. They have 4 beautiful children and also reside in the North Atlanta, GA area.

He often runs into other individuals who are half-American/half-Vietnamese and will share his story. He hopes to find more Amerasians who are in search of their American fathers and families and assists them as liaison and interpreter for WarBabies.

What We Do

Warbabies.org is compiling a database of both American Veterans and Amerasian Children. This database is secure and not to be released to the public or any individual outside of it’s organization. We hold anonymity to a higher standard due to the nature of each individuals experience.

We take every precaution of maintaining an individuals rights and respect their privacy as much as possible.

We utilize several DNA testing companies and comply fully with their terms of service. Upon DNA sample submission, we analyze the results and who they connect with.

If a close match is made, we take steps to try to contact the individuals and conclude how they are related and work towards finding out who the father is or who the child is based on the amount of DNA centimorgans between each individual.  Additional testing with closer relatives may be necessary.

Sometimes luck is on our side and we find that the matches are close, half siblings, parents, grandparents, etc.

Then the real work begins… The Reunification Phase. We act as a liaison between the families until they are both comfortable with the next phase, the Healing Phase.


We do not judge circumstances and strongly believe that it is not a shameful or embarrassing situation and that a loving and caring relationship can develop over time.


 

We need your help...

If you would like to join our team, please send us your resume and a bio, with a short essay on how you can help in our mission. We are currently seeking volunteer Grant Writers, Researchers, Communications, Counselors, and Translators that can speak multiple languages.