How an 'only child' discovered that she had 17 siblings

One Father's Day, when Claudia Beard was in primary school, she was asked to draw her family tree.

She filled in one side easily, drawing pictures of her mother, aunt, uncle, and grandparents. Then she hit a problem. Beard did not know who her father was. She did not even know his name.

Her teacher took her to one side.

"Just draw what you think he is like," the teacher said.

"That made me angry," Beard told Business Insider. "I shouldn't have to pretend. I don't have a Dad and that's it."

Beard's father was an anonymous sperm donor. Raised by her mother in New York City, Beard said her childhood was happy, but at times she longed for a stereotypical family life, with brothers and sisters.

As Beard grew older she found out that she actually had at least 17 siblings, who all had the same father, spread across the US.

She located them using the Donor Sibling Registry - a website that brings together siblings who came from the same donor. The site currently has more than 50,000 members and it has connected more than 13,400 half-siblings and donors with each other. While sperm donors are kept anonymous, each is assigned a number; by sharing this number with the database, siblings are able to find each other.

Finding out that you have a sibling that you have never met must be overwhelming. Beard explained what it was like to discover 17.