“When you say you’re adopted, the first thing people ask you is ‘Are you going to look for your origins?’ » Anthony Feneuil, theologian and philosopher, was born under X and grew up in an adoptive family. Unlike other adoption stories marked by secrecy, everything had always been told to him. His mother and father told him, like a fairy tale, “the story of a meeting between parents who were having difficulty having a child and a child who was in need of parents”.
The turning point came when he was expecting his first child. By becoming a father, Anthony realizes that even when the child is still in his mother’s womb, “there are a whole bunch of interactions that occur between him, those around him and the mother in the first place.”
A DNA test to find out its origins
In France, until the law of January 22, 2002, passed by Ségolène Royal, it was in certain cases very difficult to obtain information on one’s parents in the context of a childbirth under
The research was unsuccessful and Anthony decided a few years later to take a DNA test, although it was banned in France, to advance his quest. He learns a little more about his geographical origins and thanks to access to a database, he comes into contact with a woman who has the same last name as his mother and who will help him in his research. After some investigative work, he ends up finding his mother. A “quick”, “intense” meeting, which allows him to obtain answers to certain questions surrounding his birth.
To go further
Anthony Feneuil is the author of various works, including Rien de concealed (Bayard éditions, March 2026) in which he recounts the search for his biological mother and her journey.
