Recently a family member has been researching their family on Ancestry and it turns out that they have younger siblings from their dad’s second marriage. This wasn’t really a surprise, the dad moved on when they were still young, in fact never really had much to do with them apart from to father several children with their mum. But it seems that when he did finally move on he remarried and had more children with his second wife.
Except it seems his first wife and children remained a secret, and now family member has contacted the younger sibling and they had no idea that their father was A, married before, and B, that they have several older siblings, and essentially a whole other family i.e. nieces nephews etc.
And because the parents are both dead, they will never have answers as to whether the mother knew and kept it from them, or whether the father just kept it a secret from all of them.
Family member isn’t necessarily seeking a relationship with this sibling, but wanted to know about their father which I think is fair enough.
But all too often we see posts on here from posters saying that their husband has children by a previous partner who he never sees and should the existing children be told.
In this day of technology, of ancestry and social media, I absolutely think it’s vital they be told, because I think that these things are impossible to keep a secret, and the fallout could be awful when the younger kids find out.