The Secret Twin Study: Files Sealed Until 2065

Twin Separation Policy, Dr. Neubauer & Viola Bernard, Louise Wise Services, 1960

In the 1960s, the Louise Wise Services adoption agency implemented a unique and secretive policy: when identical newborn twins were placed for adoption, they were deliberately separated and sent to different families, without informing those families or the children themselves. Dr. Viola Bernard, the agency’s psychiatric consultant, was the author of this separation policy. Bernard believed that separating twins would help them develop a more independent identity and allow each child to benefit from the undivided attention of their adoptive parents.

Dr. Peter Neubauer saw research potential in this policy. He launched what became known as the Louise Wise Services Child Development Study (LWS CDC Twin Study), designed to study the long-standing scientific debate of nature versus nurture. Neubauer believed that by observing twins raised in completely different environments—different homes, schools, and families—he would be able to better understand the extent to which genetics versus upbringing shaped personality and achievement. The rare opportunity to access separated-at-birth twins was a researcher's dream, and Neubauer capitalized on it.

Crucially, the study was shrouded in secrecy. Neither the adoptive families nor the children were told that the adopted child was a twin, that the study existed, or that they were being monitored as part of a nature/nurture research project. The deception extended from birth and continued throughout the duration of the study.

Study Structure: Deception of Families & 18-year Behavioral Monitoring

The methods of the study were rooted in deception. When the Louise Wise agency offered a child for adoption, representatives would inform prospective parents that the child was already enrolled in a study, strongly urging them to keep the child in the program—a request framed as non-negotiable. Details about the study were kept vague, framed as relating to the development of adopted children. At no point did the agency reveal to the families that their child had an identical twin (or, in a rare case, triplets) who had been placed with another family.

Over the years, small research teams—including pediatricians, psychologists, and research assistants—visited the homes of these 13 separated-at-birth children. For the first two years, visits occurred every few months, then annually until the children reached age 12. The teams administered an array of psychological and developmental tests: the Wexler Intelligence Scale, Bender-Gestalt Test for visual-motor development, Draw a Person, sentence completion, the three wishes task, and Rorschach ink blots, among others. Children were filmed interacting with their parents and going about daily activities. Parents had no reason to suspect the true purpose or extent of the study.

Importantly, each identical sibling underwent an identical battery of tests and observations, always under the false pretense of being an individual research subject. Researchers carefully guarded the secret, never revealing to either the children or their families that an identical sibling existed, or ...

The Louise Wise Services Child Development Center (LWS CDC) study violated foundational ethical principles by enrolling adoptive families and their children as research subjects without their knowledgeable agreement, ultimately causing harm through secrecy, manipulation, and lost opportunities for family unity.

Violation of Informed Consent in Basic Research Ethics

Families who adopted twins or triplets through LWS CDC were unwittingly enrolled in a long-term comparative study on genetics and environment. The agency only vaguely referenced the goal as learning about "adopted children's development," obscuring the true research intent from participating parents. Carter Roy and Dr. Siegel emphasize that, in marked contrast to Siegel's own work with twins (in which informed consent was always given), the LWS CDC study failed to secure such consent. In 1978—eighteen years after the research began—consent forms were mailed out, but not all families signed, and this belated attempt did not provide genuinely informed consent as outlined by research ethics. Children, too, became unwitting research subjects without any say or knowledge.

Sibling Separation Harmed Families' Adoption Decision Opportunities

The lack of transparency resulted in the intentional separation of siblings, with neither children nor adoptive parents informed that twins or triplets were available to be adopted together. Deborah and Janie's parents, after discovering their daughters’ twin status, asserted they gladly would have adopted both girls had they known. David’s family likewise expressed willingness to adopt all three boys. Families repeatedly state they were denied the opportunity to keep siblings together due to the agency's secrecy, which shaped children’s life trajectories and stripped both parents and children of autonomy in personal decision-making.

Study Design Incorporates Social Engineering in Child Placement

Placement deci ...

The dramatic story of separated siblings reunited years later reveals how adoption agencies and researchers operated in secret, eventually leading to public and media scrutiny.

Twin Reunion Leads To Discovery of Research Project

In 1980, 19-year-old Bobby Shafran arrives for his first semester at Sullivan County Community College in New York. The students act surprisingly friendly—hugging him and calling him "Eddie." Bobby, confused, is told by a student that he must have a twin because another student named "Eddie" who attended previously looked just like him and shared the same birthday. After a dorm-mate asks if Bobby was adopted, the two call "Eddie" on a payphone. When Eddie answers, Bobby hears his own voice. They meet face to face that night, discovering they are identical twins separated at birth by Louise Wise Services.

Reporters pick up the extraordinary story. Days later, a picture of Bobby and Eddie appears in the newspaper. Another 19-year-old, David, sees their photo and realizes he looks identical to them. He’s not just a twin—he is their third brother, and together they’re triplets. The revelation attracts national media attention. Bobby, Eddie, and David discover uncanny similarities, from personal habits to romantic preferences. Their reunion and subsequent life together draw further spotlight. They move to New York, open a restaurant, and even appear in the 1985 Madonna film "Desperately Seeking Susan," cementing their tale as a cultural phenomenon.

Triplets' Reunion Investigation Uncovered Research and Raised Questions About Agency Actions Beyond Placement Decisions

Journalist Lawrence Wright, in the mid-1990s, stumbles upon an academic mention of separated twin girls studied from birth. The twins' details are shrouded in pseudonyms, leaving Wright with unanswered questions about their identities and the study's scope. Wright’s investigation leads him to Dr. Peter Neubauer, an elderly and evasive psychiatrist involved in the research. Neubauer dodges questions about the study’s origins, promising future publication within a year or so—a promise that goes unfulfilled.

Wright’s interview with psychologist Viola Bernard helps him connect the dots to the triplets and suggests that their placements—along with those of other twins—were not random but deliberately orchestrated for the purposes of study rather than merely for adoption.

Siblings' Chance Reunions Expand Study's Scope Evidence

Other separated siblings reconnect purely by chance. In 1989, Melanie, working at an IHOP in Brooklyn, is approached by a stranger asking if she was adopted. Initially skeptical, Melanie is visited again by the woman with a photograph of her niece, Ellen, who looks just like Melanie. This chance encounter leads Melanie to discover she has a twin, Ellen.

Such reunions sometimes come much later. ...

The psychological and emotional consequences of separating twins and triplets can be profound, as demonstrated by the experiences of individuals who participated in the Neubauer study. The lack of a shared developmental history greatly impeded their ability to form deep, intuitive bonds later in life and may have contributed to significant mental health struggles.

Separated Twins Struggled to Bond Without Shared Developmental History

Triplets Bobby, Eddie, and David's Bond Weakened Due to Adult Life, Marriages, Children, and Business Complications

Triplets Drift Apart Despite Genetic Identity

Bobby, Eddie, and David, triplets who were initially close, struggled to maintain their bond into adulthood. Growing up in separate homes meant they did not develop the lifelong skills needed to negotiate and navigate conflict as siblings typically do. Their busy adult lives—marked by marriages, children, and the challenges of running a business together—created additional complexities. Without the foundation of a shared upbringing, their relationship could not withstand these pressures and, despite their identical genetics, they inevitably drifted apart.

Melanie and Ellen Struggled to Develop a Deep, Intuitive Twin Connection due to Meeting In Their Twenties and Living Separate Adult Lives

Melanie and Ellen, twins who met in their twenties, found themselves in similar straits. Though they enjoyed each other's company, their lives were already filled with jobs, romantic partners, and physical distance between states. As adults who had never experienced growing up together, they were unable to develop the instinctive closeness typical of twins raised side by side—a distance they acknowledge is irreversible.

Twins and Triplets Reported Significant Mental Health Struggles, Raising Questions if the Research Targeted or Worsened Preexisting Vulnerabilities

Triplet Eddie Died By Suicide In 1995; all Three Reportedly Received Psychiatric Care As Teens

Twins Paula and Elise Reunite: Connection of Depression and Mother's Schizophrenia Raises Questions of Genetic Selection

Siblings Theorize Neubauer and Bernard Studied Nature vs. Nurture Effects on Mental Health

Mental health issues recurred throughout the stories of many separated twins and triplets in the study. Notably, Eddie, one of the triplets, died by suicide in 1995, and all three brothers reportedly received psychiatric care as teenagers. Twins Paula and Elise, who reunited later in life, both experienced depression and discovered their birth mother had been diagnosed with schizophrenia. This revelation led to questions about the criteria for participation in the study—whether children were chosen because of a family predisposition to mental illness.

As these patterns emerged, some participants theorized that Dr. Neubauer’s true objective might have been to investigate the effects of nature versus nurture specifically on mental health outcomes, perhaps even selecting children believed to be at higher risk for psychiatric disorders. This has stirred lingering doubts and concern among the subjects about the true intentions behind their separation ...

The Louise Wise Services twin study contains files, notes, and test results that hold potential answers to long-standing questions, but these materials remain inaccessible to the public, raising ongoing concerns about transparency and accountability.

Research Records From the Louise Wise Services Study Remain Sealed, Access Restricted Until October 25, 2065

Before His 2008 Death, Peter Neubauer Entrusted Study Materials To an Organization, Which Donated Them To Yale University Archives

Before his 2008 death, Peter Neubauer, the lead researcher of the study, entrusted all files to one of the organizations he had collaborated with. This organization later donated the complete set of files, including raw data, methodology, and test results, to the Yale University Archives.

Archives Limit Record Access for 105 Years From the Study's Start, Raising Questions About the Justification for This Lengthy Restriction

Despite the files’ historical significance, the Yale Archives imposed access restrictions until October 25, 2065—precisely 105 years after the study began. Public access to the complete study dataset, including its methodology, is therefore blocked for more than a century, with no fully published record available for external scrutiny. This extraordinary duration prompts widespread skepticism about the reasoning behind keeping the evidence sealed for so long.

Siblings Struggle to Access Complete Data, Much Is Redacted

Twins and Triplets Access Their Data After Confronting Institutional Barriers

The twins and triplets involved in the study technically have the right to view their personal records. However, many have only succeeded in obtaining their files after navigating significant institutional resistance and administrative roadblocks.

Redacted Information Lacks Explanation Long After Relevant Figures' Deaths

Even after gaining partial access, much of the information presented to the siblings is redacted, with critical details blacked out. The rationale for this level of secrecy is unclear, especially considering that all of the original researchers who could have been held accountable are now deceased. The persistence of these redactions, with no clear explanation or legal necessity, fuels ongoing frustration and suspicion.

Persistence of Sealed Records Despite Researchers' Deaths Raises Questions on Institutional Liability or Undisclosed Information

Sealed Records Decision Suggests Other Interests Restrict Access

The continued gatekeeping of these records, even now, raises strong suspicions about what other interests might be influencing the decision to keep them out of public reach. The decision to keep the materials sealed until 2065, long after all original participants and researchers would have passed away, suggests institutional concerns about liability or undisclosed information that remains sensitive.

Dr. Nancy Siegel: Limited Data Access Hinders Understanding of Methodology and Outcomes

Dr. Nancy Siegel, a scholar who has studied the case and examined some of these files, highligh ...