<P> The show's debut was ABC Family's highest - rated series debut to date . The series won an honorary Peabody Award in 2013, and on July 30, ABC Family ordered a third season which premiered on January 13, 2014 . On August 13, 2014, ABC Family renewed the series for a fourth season, which premiered on January 6, 2015 . </P> <P> On October 21, 2015, ABC Family (now rebranded as Freeform) confirmed the series had been renewed for its fifth season, which was later confirmed to be the final season . On March 19, 2016, it was announced that the fifth season was bumped from a March 2016 to a January 2017 premiere date . In October 2016, the network announced that the final season would premiere on January 31, 2017 . </P> <P> Bay Madeline Kennish, a teenage girl from the wealthy Kansas City suburb of Mission Hills, Kansas, discovers from a school lab assignment that her AB blood type is incompatible with her type A / O parents John and Kathryn . Genetic testing confirms Bay is not the Kennishes' biological daughter . She uses the phrase "real parents," but is informed that "biological" is the preferred term . It is revealed that the hospital mistakenly switched Bay (who was actually born Daphne Paloma Vasquez) with the Kennishes' newborn daughter, who is raised by her single mother Regina and grandmother Adriana in the low - income neighborhood of East Riverside, Missouri . Daphne is deaf, having lost her hearing as a result of contracting meningitis at age three . The Kennishes invite Daphne and Regina to their home, and after learning that Regina is struggling financially, propose that they move into their guest house with Adriana, an offer that Regina accepts . </P> <P> This forces the girls, along with both families, to understand their differences and embrace their similarities . The girls sometimes struggle with their identities, as Bay discovers she has inherited her artistic talent from Regina, and Daphne discovers she has inherited John's athletic skill and Kathryn's love of cooking . Both mothers learn to bond with their biological daughters, while often unintentionally angering their legal ones . John learns to relate to his new - found daughter by coaching her deaf school's basketball team and employing her in the office of one of the local chain of car washes that he owns . Bay is driven by a need to find her biological father Angelo Sorrento, who left Regina shortly after Daphne went deaf . That causes a bond between her and Emmett that later becomes an intense romance . </P>

Switched at birth how did they find out