I have become concerned about the number of questions being raised about genealogical DNA test results that seem, to the questioner, to raise the possibility of, in the extreme, incest. Two aspects in particular, stand out. Firstly, with the best will in the world, most of us will not have the requisite skills to deal with the psychological impact on the OP of even raising the question. Secondly, I am not convinced that testing designed for genealogical hobbies offers a sufficient degree of accuracy, or even analyses the correct things.
Should we exclude questions such as Assessing likelihood of incest using AncestryDNA results?
If so, then how do we define them, in order to exclude them?
I know that there was a DNA surprises or similar question on Meta, but I feel this incest aspect adds something else and takes the implications of getting it wrong, up a level.
Added links (21 Sept 2021) Let me just add a few links:
One highlight for me from that 2nd URL is
The technical term for lots of shared segments between one’s parents is “high ROH” which sounds much better than the “in” word.
It also says that
CeCe Moore specializes in helping people who make this discovery [High ROH]. [The 3rd link is] the informational brochure she helped Brianne Kirkpatrick, genetic counselor, create. It includes where to get emotional support.
That's just a very swift look but it illustrates that there are a whole number of tools and techniques beyond bog-standard Ancestry Autosomal testing that are useful for these cases. Plus there's a series of possible ways forward for emotional support.
Can we even begin to provide similar advice? I doubt it? But this does convince me equally that responding that we don't provide responses to questions of Incest is equally a dereliction of duty. People need to be directed to somewhere that gives them a way forward...
