Julia Tinetti and Cassandra Madison met at work at a Connecticut bar in 2013, and instantly became friends. Upon learning that they were both from the Dominican Republic and both adopted as infants, their bond tightened. Soon they were dressing alike and calling each other “sister.” Because they felt so connected and looked very much alike, they even broke out their adoption documents to see if they might, in fact, be sisters, but the information on the documents didn’t match up, so they let it go.
But not for long.
In 2018, Madison’s mom gave her a 23 and Me DNA test kit and encouraged her to find her biological family. Happily, this led her to a large, loving family in the Dominican Republic. Though her biological mother had passed away, her biological father and 7 siblings were thrilled to connect with her, and they were able to meet in person in later that year. At some point, Cassandra asked her father if they had ever given another child up for adoption.
He told her that yes, they had, and that it was a little girl…and this little girl’s birth timing matched up with Julia Tinetti’s. With that answer, Cassandra’s desire to truly find out if Julia Tinetti was her biological sister was re-ignited. She drove from her new home in Virginia Beach, Virginia all the way to where Tinetti still lived in Connecticut, 23 and Me DNA test in hand.
A few weeks later, the results revealed what they knew in their hearts all along: they were sisters—full biological sisters, with the same mom and the same dad. Now it was Tinetti’s turn to meet her big, loving Dominican family, which she was able to do, with Madison at her side, in October 2022.
“This is the first time in 35 years that our father has had all of his nine kids together,” Tinetti told NBC Connecticut. “So, holy cow moment.”
