Peter Neubauer & Viola Bernard separated twin study

Viola W Bernard, 1907-1998, a social psychologist, left the world 128.5 cubic feet of papers in 378 boxes, 5 oversize boxes and 3 folders. [what a hoarder!!]

In box no 74 there are papers on a study of twins deliberately reared apart.

5.4: Child Development Center (CDC): Twin Study [Twins Reared Apart], 1953-1997
(3 boxes; 1 cubic foot). Most files CLOSED until January 1, 2021.
Correspondence, mostly with Louise Wise Services, one of the three sponsoring institutions of the study; meeting minutes; progress reports; financial and fundraising records; scientific publications; and newspaper clippings. The primary records of the project were donated by the Child Development Center to Yale University, where they will be opened to researchers in 2020. The bulk of this series is likewise closed until that date.

Bernard was co-investigator with Peter Neubauer in this longitudinal prospective research project about identical twins placed as infants in separate adoptive homes and reared apart. Bernard wrote in 1963 that the study "provides a natural laboratory situation for studying certain questions with respect to the nature-nurture issue and of family dynamic interactions in relation to personality development." The study later aroused controversy, chiefly because the adoptive parents and adoptees were not informed about the twinship, in keeping with the practice of the day.

But now the separated twins are complaining. Listen here

This not just because they weren't told. This is an identity issue. Twins reared apart must be told they they are twins; lone twins who lose their twin at birth must be told that they were once one of a twin pair: wombtwin survivors need to know that they were once part of a twin pair. It's the same problem. Its "who am I?"

Surviving twins who suffer with "low self esteem", with "a weak ego" or a "poor sense of self" simply need to know the truth of who they are. Then they can feel strong and whole again. Identical twins need that most. They were once a single entity: they are the fertilized ovum, which divided into two. They spend their lives wishing to be reunited. Unless they can be together as a pair they cannot feel whole. Its perfectly obvious to anyone who works with twins. Identical twins have special needs, and these needs must be respected if there is to be ethical practice in working with them.

Wombtwin survivors know how painful twin loss can be: to deliberately separate identical twins and to choose to bar them from access to their twin is unethical, and nothing short of child abuse.