San Diego: Non-Traditional Families, April 13

How should genealogists handle sensitive data and issues discovered in their research? What are the implications of including, or excluding, information in your family tree?

How does your decision effect those who come after you seeking genealogical information? What are the medical, ethical and halachic implications of these decisions regarding adoption, assisted reproduction and genetic disorders?

To help answer these important questions, the San Diego Jewish Genealogy Society has a program that should be of great interest to all genealogists - Jewish or not - at its next meeting, at 1pm, Sunday, April 13, at the Lawrence Family JCC in La Jolla (members, free; others $3).

Stephanie Weiner will present "Non-Traditional Families: Issues of Privacy and Confidentiality in Constructing A Genealogical Tree."

She will present ways to deal with sensitive data and issues when non-traditional families are involved. What are the halachic, medical and ethical implications of decisions to include or exclude material such as those regarding adoption and assisted reproduction? With more genetic disorders being identified, and donor sperm conceptions, the issues will become more pertinent.

What are the implications of including, or excluding, information in your family tree? How does your decision effect those who come after you seeking genealogical information?

As an adoptee, Stephanie has an abiding interest in access to vital records. She has worked with grassroots adoption organizations and has presented on the topic of adoption, orphans, and non-traditional families. Her most recent project has been the preparation of an online teaching module about adoption for the Jewish Education Council of Seattle.

A semi-retired librarian working part-time for the San Diego County Library system, she was a college and university librarian. Stephanie has been a speaker, since 2003, at IAJGS (International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies) annual conferences and has provided training in online genealogy for staff members and the general public. A featured speaker on genealogy for several San Diego County libraries, she has also presented at the Jewish Genealogical Society of Greater Washington (Seattle).

She is a member of the IAJGS Public Records Access and Monitoring Committee, the Genealogical Speakers Guild and the Association of Professional Genealogists.

For more information, click here.