Celebrating Fathers Day with an estranged father or family member for the first time is made possible through the website sensation 'Genes Reunited'
Until now, for thousands of fatherless people across the UK, the thought of being reunited with their dad for Fathers Day has been just a childhood dream. Now the popular family website Genes Reunited, the sister website of Friends Reunited, is making it a joyful reality, as people of all ages celebrate their first-ever Fathers Day together on June 20th.
Sean Dickens, a 32 year-old telephone engineer from Maidenhead, who had been trying to locate his estranged father for years until he registered his details on Genes Reunited and received a reply from his father the same day, exclaiming: "If only Genes Reunited was around all those years ago! Not only did I find my dad but learnt that I also have a lovely stepsister I never knew existed! We're celebrating our first Father's Day together with a child's party theme of jelly and ice cream to make up for all the years we were apart!" It is therefore not surprising to learn that tracing family roots is the second most popular hobby in the United States* and a huge new craze in the UK this year.
* - Source Fox News 8th December 2003
According to the most recent National Census* figures, one in ten households in England and Wales are single parent homes with nine out of ten of these homes being run by single mothers. Unfortunately many of these children do not know their biological fathers. Now Genes Reunited, the number one family tree website in the UK, is helping children and fathers across the country to reunite and celebrate Fathers Day together.
* - Just under one in ten households in England and Wales are lone-parent (9.6 per cent) and more than nine out of ten of these are headed by a woman.
Michelle Barker, Head of Genes Reunited says:
"The internet has spurred a new interest in family history by making it easier than ever before to find ancestors and living relatives. We're thrilled that just over a year after starting Genes Reunited, we're achieving our goal to encourage everyone to explore their family tree. Imagine finding your father by sending one email. It's incredible"
Genes Reunited, which recently reached one million members, works by connecting members with their extended family through the sharing of information and knowledge. With an exponentially increasing member-base of over 13 million names, the site is connecting more people more often with a new family connection being made every 52 seconds*.
* - Based on average number of Genes Reunited page impressions viewed per month. Total page impressions on Genes Reunited during January 2004 - 13,598,841.
Genes Reunited allows its members to share a wealth of knowledge about their family traditions and history. Many members have filled in missing links in their family history that has puzzled them for years; some tracing thousands of family names in their trees that extends back for centuries.
In 2002 73% of families in Great Britain consisted of a married or cohabiting couple and their dependent children. This is a proportion that has declined steadily since 1971, when 92% of families were of this type. The large growth in the proportion of lone-parent families (from 8% of families in 1971 to over a quarter of families [27%] in 2002) has mainly been among families headed by a lone mother. Lone-father families have accounted for 1% to 3% of families since 1971, whereas the percentage of lone-mother families has risen from 7% in 1971 to 24% in 2002.
Internet analysis figures supplied by Red Sheriff.
Genes Connected survey results are based on a nationally representative telephone omnibus survey of 1003 adults aged 15+ measured by global market research company NOP World, 13th -15th February 2004.
Q1. Are you interested in learning more about your family tree or ancestors?
| Total: | Yes No Don't know | 34% 65% 1% |
Q2. If you were interested in learning more about your family tree or ancestors, which, if any, of the following methods would you prefer to find this information out?
| Total: | Internet: 46% Library: 18% Government Records Office: 20% Other: 5% I wouldn't find out about my family tree or ancestors: 8% None of these: 1% Don't know: 2% |