This section contains articles found on the internet related to adoption and the search for reunions with biological birth family. If you have a blog or would like to suggest an article be included, please let us know.
National Adoptee Rights Group Travels To Open Records
Sun, Jul 18, 2010American Adoptees Denied Civil Rights to Birth Certificate Due to archaic laws that are a legacy of cultural shame stigmatizing infertility, sex, unwed mothers, and adoption, over 90% of all American adoptees will face a life of discrimination unless current laws are changed. Read Full Article...
History of Closed Adoption Records in California
Sun, Jul 11, 2010California became a state in 1850. State law did not include any reference to adoption until 1870, when a statute for the first time allowed for the legal transfer of a child into the care of unrelated adults, who would promise the state of California to "raise such child as his or their own ... Read Full Article...
Late discovery of being adopted
Wed, Jul 7, 2010March 28, 2010 marked a rather unorthodox event for me. It's the three-year anniversary of the day in 2007 when I learned I was adopted. I was 41 years old at the time. On that day I became unknown to myself. Read Full Article...
Finding out I'm adopted after 41 years
Tue, Jul 6, 2010In late 2006 it all started simply enough, as I requested my birth certificate from my mother. I bugged her for weeks to send it to me. She kept saying she'd look for it, and that she was not sure she had it anymore. Read Full Article...
For Want of a Mother
Sat, Jun 5, 2010One woman's story of how she was adopted and how she found her biological family. a New Vintage Film Directed by Brady Gillman Special Thanks to Cindy Gillman Read Full Article...
New Illinois law to open adoption records
Tue, May 25, 2010On May 20th, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn signed into law a measure allowing people who were adopted as children to access their birth records to find out more about their past. The proposal is sponsored by Rep. Read Full Article...
Finding my biological roots after 41 years
Thu, May 20, 2010I was put up for adoption in 1968. I was born with (mild) cerebral palsy, 2 months premature and weighed 2 pounds at birth. The cerebral palsy diagnosis would not come until later when I was about 2 years old. After birth, I spent a good deal of time in the ICU, then went into the foster care system and lived with a foster family until I was 18 months old when I actually was adopted by my parents. Read Full Article...
Dear Birthmother: Thoughts from an Adoptive Mother
Mon, May 10, 2010Dear Birthmother. Almost twelve years ago, I sat down to my computer to pen the most important letter of my life. Dear Birthmother, I paused, wondering: What should I say to a woman whose name I did not even know? How could I convey to this unknown woman that my husband and I would make the perfect parents for her beloved baby, better than the thousands of other hopeful adoptive parents? Angrily wiping my tears with the sleeve of my blouse, I pondered the words that would not sound like begging to a woman whose "condition" I had desperately desired for myself for the past four years. Read Full Article...
Remembering Birthmother's Day
Sat, May 8, 2010On Saturday, May 12, as many families prepare for the more "traditional" Mother's Day celebration, families touched by adoption prepare for the lesser known Birthmother's Day. Founded in 1990 by a group of Seattle, WA birthmothers, Birthmother's Day is celebrated the Saturday before Mother's Day and aims to not only educate, but more importantly honor and remember those mothers who created a life plan for their child. Read Full Article...
Birthmother's: How to Survive Mother's Day
Thu, May 6, 2010Mother's day is all around us at this time of year. There are cards, gifts, television commercials, and other things that are constant reminders as to what holiday is right around the corner. Read Full Article...
Son and birth mother look forward to new beginning
Sat, Apr 10, 2010Amila Cavazos, 52, stood outside the door of her father's small house in Abernathy, Houston - her hair neatly arranged, lipstick carefully applied, wearing her Sunday best. Waiting. Read Full Article...
The Big Adoption Secret and Finding Family on Facebook
Tue, Apr 6, 2010I love Facebook. I've been on it for a few years now, and I've found lots of people from my past there. My college roommate, friends from high school, even my very best friend in the whole world from when I was in kindergarten. Read Full Article...
Sarah's Adoption Story
Sun, Apr 4, 2010I was a freshman in college in the winter of 1967, enjoying my new found freedom, living in a dorm far away from home with a very ample curfew. To say that I was "a child of the 60's" with all the implications that brings is the most I will say about that time. Read Full Article...
Sarah Jessica Parker's Connection to the Salem Witch Trials
Fri, Mar 5, 2010Tonight, "Who Do You Think You Are?", a new reality TV series premiered on NBC. The show takes seven celebrities on a journey that researches the genealogical roots of their family, giving them a new identity as they find out who they are and how they are related to important events in American history. Read Full Article...
After decades, woman tracks down birth family
Sat, Feb 27, 2010Prior to several decades ago, a young woman becoming a single mother was a scary and bad thing. Society frowned on such women, who typically left home for several months to have their babies and give them up for adoption. Read Full Article...
To my birth mother...
Wed, Jan 27, 2010Anglican vicar Peter Owen Jones was adopted and grew up fantasising about his birth mother, but eventually he traced her and they met. Now he has written her a heartfelt letter. Peter Owen Jones: 'I never for one second felt angry about being put up for adoption.' Photograph: Felix Clay Dear Joan, I am not sure that parents should protect their children from pain -- it is as inevitable as morning -- although maybe we should teach our children how to deal with it. Read Full Article...
Why I don’t want to find my birth mother
Tue, Jan 26, 2010She tells me I'm angry. I tell her that I'm not. She insists I'm in denial. She is Betty Jean Lifton, a prominent adoption counselor and author who believes that adoptees can only be fulfilled by reunited with their birth parents. Read Full Article...
Matt Kennon Discovers Shocking Details About His Adoption
Mon, Jan 25, 2010Matt Kennon identifies with such fellow country singers as Jimmy Wayne, Jeff Bates and Rodney Atkins, who were either adopted or were at some point in the foster care system. Matt Kennon The Georgia native was adopted at birth by two loving parents, who had previously lost three of their four biological children to a house fire. Read Full Article...
NBC's "Who Do You Think You Are" Series Premiere
Thu, Jan 14, 2010NBC unveiled its new post-Winter Olympics primetime program schedule today. The announcement includes the premiere of "Who Do You Think You Are?", a show that gives viewers an up-close and personal look inside the family history of some of today's most beloved and iconic celebrities. Read Full Article...
Senate Bill to Open Adoption Files for New York
Wed, Jan 13, 2010A8410 and S5269 enacts a Bill of Adoptee Rights clarifying language and procedures for obtaining birth certificates and medical histories of New York adoptees; allows adopted adults to learn who their birth parents are when they reach the age of 18, subject to a contact preference filed by the birth parents. Read Full Article...
Internet helps woman connect with mother after 67 years apart
Mon, Jan 11, 2010When Anita Spencer would go to fill out family medical history forms at the doctor's office, she had to mark "unknown" when it came to questions about her birth mother. The 68-year-old was separated from her mother when she was 11 months old, and was raised by her uncle and aunt on her father's side. Read Full Article...
Adoptee Poetry
Mon, Jan 11, 2010Dear Birth Mother: I had to write you this letter today I can only imagine in a tearful kind of way How much your heart had to ache on that day When you so unselfishly gave your son away So that he could grow up in a home of love And spread his wings like an innocent dove You gave of your heart sole Read Full Article...
Adoptee seeks stem cells from birth mother
Fri, Jan 8, 2010Every adoptee has their own personal reason for wanting to locate a member from their birth family. For many, it is to find their biological family members' medical history and genetic predispositions. Read Full Article...
Adopted son seeks mother
Fri, Jan 8, 2010Tod Pohlmann had always known he was adopted, but it wasn't until he began his own family that he got serious about finding his birth mother. Although his adoption records were sealed, Pohlmann, who manages the Starbucks on Santa Rita Road in Pleasanton, California, knew his mother's date of birth and her first and middle name. Read Full Article...
'Karma' plays role in mother and daughter reunion
Sun, Jan 3, 2010Whatever your belief system, every once in a while something happens that is too perfect to write off to chance. Maybe that is why Susanne Howe named the cat "Karma." This story could have been written in the usual way: the trend story about how families around the world are reuniting on Facebook; the one shown in heart-wrenching airport reunions on the evening news, rehashed on morning TV talk shows. Read Full Article...
Legal twist wrenching family apart
Wed, Dec 30, 2009Their young daughter completes each of the family portraits that cover the wall. In one, the four have their backs to the camera, showing off their Celtics jerseys - the only team the parents can agree they will all root for. Read Full Article...
Separated siblings reunite for Christmas
Tue, Dec 29, 2009Missouri twins Kaitlyn and Brittany Gotthardt went right for the big box sitting next to their Christmas tree Friday, not knowing that what was inside had traveled 1,200 miles and would soon have the girls crying tears of joy. Read Full Article...
Christmas with daughter is mom's long-sought blessing
Sun, Dec 27, 2009Marnette Haynes has a large, boisterous family. But when they gathered for holiday celebrations, they were missing a voice. For all the love and blessings that abounded, there was a small twinge. Read Full Article...
Adopted son meets birth mother on Christmas
Sat, Dec 26, 2009The T-shirts, socks, boots and scrapbook that Ted Brewer found under the Christmas tree were wonderful, but it was the gift he received that evening that he will remember all his life. Read Full Article...
Colorado pulls curtain back on adoption records
Fri, Dec 25, 2009When Patricia Dukeman started trying to find her biological parents, Ronald Reagan lived in the White House, Michael Jackson's "Beat It" was record of the year, and the Supreme Court decided it was OK for us to use those new VCR things to tape TV shows. Read Full Article...
Adoptive Mother Reflects on Finding Birth Mom
Wed, Dec 23, 2009On the way into work, today, my morning radio station had an adoptee call in for "therapy" advice. It's usually about that time, in the show, I switch channels (I have small tolerance for insignificant banter), but I stopped short, as soon as I heard the word adoption. The girl was in her early thirties and wanted to look for her birth mom, but was afraid of hurting her adoptive mom's feelings. Read Full Article...
Siblings Reunite 80 Years After Depression-Era Adoption
Tue, Dec 22, 2009After Decades of Searching Barbara Miller, 82, Found She Was One of Nine Children The last time the Chrisman siblings saw their baby sister, the family was reeling from the death of their mother, and their father was struggling in the throes of the Great Depression. Read Full Article...
No more lost souls: An Adopted Person's Response
Fri, Dec 18, 2009What I hate about reality shows is that the stories are often contrived and artificial. You name it, Survivor, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, The Longest Race, Dancing with the Stars, American Idol, reality and the human experience give way to gross-out, gamesmanship, and goofiness. Read Full Article...
Grieving adoptee seeks birth mother after adoptive mother passes away
Tue, Dec 15, 2009A daughter finds her birth mother after the death of her adoptive mother and a mother is reunited with the son she gave up as a teenager. ABC's "Find My Family" lends a helping hand to a grieving daughter in search of her birth mother after losing her adoptive mother to ovarian cancer, and gives her news she never could have expected. Read Full Article...
Brother cheered on by his newly found sister
Wed, Dec 9, 2009In Broward County Florida, there's much on the line for high school quarterback Ryan Williams. The senior can lead his team to their first state championship game if they can get past powerhouse Miami Central. Read Full Article...
Families reunited after 40 year search
Mon, Dec 7, 2009A father searches for the son he lost 30 years ago and a daughter looks for the mother who gave her up at birth more than 40 years ago on ABC's "Find My Family". "Evans & Finn" - First, the "Find My Family" team sets out to help a father find the son he has spent three decades trying to locate. Read Full Article...
Woman enters contest to meet birth mother
Fri, Dec 4, 2009Mary Kay Rosado is the first to admit she's had a great life. She has two sons, a loving husband and a challenging job at the law firm where the Obamas met. Yet she is haunted by one nagging detail. Read Full Article...
Birth mother and daughter close, but never met
Thu, Dec 3, 2009It was a mother and child reunion just in time for the holidays. Wednesday at the Oakland International Airport, an East Bay woman met the daughter she gave up for adoption many years ago. Read Full Article...
National Adoption Awareness Month
Mon, Nov 30, 2009As this year's National Adoption Awareness Month comes to a close, I find it the perfect month to have this cause fall. I am a birth mother and I have been for a very long time. Read Full Article...
Adoptee Healing
Fri, Nov 27, 2009The door bell rang and my legs turned instantly to noodles. Trying to balance and walk on thick noodles is impossible. Fortunately the door was not far away. I opened the front door and on my porch stood my sister holding a Poinsettia, standing next to her adult daughter. Read Full Article...
Reuniting with birth mother after 56 years
Wed, Nov 25, 2009David Ekkel has lived in Michigan most of his life, but he's been a Buffalo Bills fan since he was 12. David Ekkel of Grand Haven, Mich., is reunited with his mother, Lillian Watson of Lockport, after having been separated from her since shortly after he was born. Read Full Article...
ABC Find My Family reunites two families
Wed, Nov 25, 2009"Find My Family" reunites a sister searching for the biological brother she never knew and a daughter searching for the biological mother forced to give her up for adoption. "Find My Family" sets out to help a sister find the brother she never knew and who ends up finding more than she ever expected. Read Full Article...
Reuniting Lost Relations, Leaving Time for Tears
Sun, Nov 22, 2009In June ABC ordered a new show called "Let's Dance," based on a British reality series, in which celebrities would replicate famous dance routines. A programming executive said, "The tone of this is fun." On Nov. Read Full Article...
The funny thing about adoption
Wed, Nov 18, 2009455XXTQDG6B2 RJJBPWSYRYQ2 Alison Larkin was 6 years old when she arrived at Sheridan School in Northwest Washington one morning with some news for her classmates. Grinning impishly, the freckled girl with auburn hair announced: "I'm adopted." The night before, Larkin and her mom had had The Talk. Read Full Article...
Adoptee finds solace on basketball court
Thu, Nov 12, 2009Stephanie Wittman remembers the time she met her birth mother 10 years ago -- her only recollection of a woman whose name now escapes her. "I knew, but I forgot," she said. "It started with an 'S.' I know that." Such is life when bouncing from family to family, city to city while spending your childhood wedged in the ever-fluctuating world of the foster-care system. Read Full Article...
Couple's adopted son brings families full circle
Wed, Nov 11, 2009It was the most heart-wrenching, agonizing decision Sheri Ocampo ever had to make. More than three decades later, it brought her an unexpected family, a sense of peace, and a love she thought was forever lost. Read Full Article...
Adoptive family raises musical gift
Tue, Nov 10, 2009Eric Wassenaar (right) has been guided in his musical growth by Augustana College music instructor Monty Barnard (left). Before that, Wassenaar was inspired musically by his adoptive father, Terry Wassenaar, who for years was a music teacher in the Parker school district and at Cathedral Elementary. Read Full Article...
Finding Birth Father Answers Son's Prayers
Thu, Nov 5, 2009Alta resident Jeff Roland proudly welcomed his birth father, Carlos Sacchetto, to his home last weekend. Roland was given up for adoption 33 years ago.With the approach of Thanksgiving, many residents are beginning to count their blessings. Read Full Article...
Abandoned as a baby, searches for 50 years
Wed, Nov 4, 2009When just a few days old, David Stevenson was abandoned outside a flat in London. Forty-nine years later, he's trying to piece together what happened on that fateful day in 1960. Read Full Article...
Finding Family on Facebook
Tue, Nov 3, 2009Matthew Ho found his birth family through Facebook. Matthew Ho had no idea who his birth family was until he found them on Facebook a few weeks ago. After a decade of frustrating deadends, in August the city resident set up a profile on the online social network using his biological surname, birth date and a photo. Within a month he received a message from a woman who turned out to be his sister, and two days later he was speaking for the first time to his birth mother, who lives in Newcastle, NSW. "We sent emails back and forth," Matthew, 32, says. Read Full Article...
A Family Found: Woman discovers client is brother
Mon, Nov 2, 2009Kim Hinchberger always wondered about the siblings she'd never met. But the Sarnia, Ontario, Canada resident, who was adopted at a young age, never imaged she'd find them right under her nose. Read Full Article...
Mother reunited with child she gave away 26 years earlier
Mon, Nov 2, 2009Roger Roth, Jessica Roth-Jendrick and Marcie Roth were recently reunited as a family. Marcie Roth gave up her daughter for adoption, but reunited with her after 28 years. She also reunited with the father of her daughter and they married before they located their daughter. She gave up her daughter for adoption in 1978 in a decision fueled by panic and desperation. Read Full Article...
Man seeks son, but records lead to wrong child
Thu, Oct 29, 2009For more than 30 years, Ron Ryba wondered about the baby boy he and his high school sweetheart had given away. The year was 1975. Ryba played running back on the football team at Shawnee High School in in Medford, N.J., while his girlfriend, Kathy Butler, cheered for him on the sidelines. Read Full Article...
The Un-Angry Adoptee
Thu, Oct 29, 2009I was relinquished at birth to a local agency and adopted at 6 weeks of age. I was told by my Parents that my birth Parents "gave me up" because they were unmarried college students. Read Full Article...
Birthfathers
Wed, Oct 28, 2009When most people think of the adoption triad they think of the birth mother, the adoptive family and the child but there is a missing piece to this picture. Birth fathers may be the most overlooked individuals in the adoption process but it is important to remember that they have the same parental rights as the biological mother. Read Full Article...
Meeting My Birth Mother
Tue, Oct 27, 2009My name is Kathryn but everyone calls me Katie. I was born in Wisconsin when my birth mother was 18. Ever since I was young, m y mom would tell me I was adopted. In third grade I talked to her about meeting my birth mother and family. Read Full Article...
Mother and child reunion
Sat, Oct 24, 2009Marlene Jones with her daughter, Anne Strong Murphey.Daughter who was given up never gave up at all She didn't even get to see her, much less touch her. With cold efficiency, the newborn was taken from doctor to nurse to adoption worker. Read Full Article...
Troy Dunn reunites North Carolina family
Wed, Oct 21, 2009Troy Dunn is a man with a mission, and in tonight's episode of "The Locator," that mission to reunite loved ones and heal broken families once again brings him to North Carolina.Dunn has been locating people professionally for going on 20 years, ever since he helped his own mother track down her birth mother. Read Full Article...
The Drama of the Adopted Daughter
Tue, Oct 20, 2009Between the ages of 14 and 16 girls begin their search for independence. This journey begins with a girl's need to establish an identity that is separate from her mother's. This process is often a source of conflict for the young girl who is often still immature and unsure of just how to separate from her mother. Read Full Article...
Two families come together after surprise adoption discovery
Mon, Oct 19, 2009Half sisters Kate Spearing (left) and Amy Hakola (right) with their mother, Jacci Williams, at her home last month. BANGOR, Maine -- Despite the chilly autumn night, there's a warm, family feeling in Jacci Williams' Bangor living room. Read Full Article...
Three decades after adoption, DNA test reveals painful truth
Fri, Oct 16, 2009For four years, Phil Bloete and Ron Ryba formed a bond based on their belief that they were father and son. For Cockeysville businessman Ron Ryba, the long walk from the parking lot to the stadium in Philadelphia was a 29-year trail of memories. Read Full Article...
New York resident discovers he's a part of Italian clan
Fri, Oct 16, 2009Craig Stern was elated to find out he had a grandmother in Alpharetta. Here the two pause for a photo at Josephine Cole's home off Academy Street. For native New Yorker Craig Stern, his first trip to Alpharetta, Georgia was a whirlwind of emotion. Read Full Article...
Adoptee aims to change rules for birth certificates
Wed, Oct 14, 2009Eric Roach is working to change a South Dakota law so other adoptees won't have to work as hard, or tell lies, to get their original birth certificates. Roach, of Spearfish, South Dakota, was adopted as a 6-month-old infant in Iowa in 1955. Read Full Article...
Woman is her brother's seeker
Tue, Oct 13, 2009Cindy Holmes of Lake Holiday Illinois, recently made contact with the brother she didn't know she had until her dad was dying. Her brother, Craig Johnson, was adopted right after he was born. Read Full Article...
Birthmother's decision impacts generations
Mon, Oct 12, 2009Ann and Juda Myers Late one evening in 1956 after watching the movie "The Ten Commandments" in a theater, a 22-year-old woman walked home alone in the dark – but she would not make it to the house before eight young men would brutally beat and rape her in the streets. Read Full Article...
Strangers From Yesterday
Sun, Oct 11, 2009I haven't written anything in a while. I couldn't say why. It's not for lack of things to say, not at all. Plenty of adoption things have been going on. My birthmother has revealed that she is terminally ill, I fought with her over the new discovery of my half sister, as she feels I went "over her head" and was angry that I didn't ask her permission to contact one of her children. Read Full Article...
The Mother Who Matters
Sat, Oct 10, 2009From Chicken Soup for the Soul: Like Mother, Like Daughter I have eyes that are said to be "cow brown," and my long blond hair is my best feature. My nose is a little too big; my face is oval shaped. Read Full Article...
Adoptee fear of abandonment
Fri, Oct 9, 2009Fear of abandonment is a a very common issue for adoptees, as is anger over having been abandoned by their birthmother. After all, if their own biological mother didn't care enough to stick around and be a part of their life, why should anyone else? Sadly, many adoptees blame themselves on some deep level that even they don't really understand. Read Full Article...
Celebrity Adoptee: Faith Hill
Fri, Oct 9, 2009Faith Hill (AP Photo/Marion Curtis, StarPix Creative Commons) Country music superstar is Faith Hill is best known for her hit songs, leading roles in films and her highly publisized marriage with fellow country singer, TIm McGraw. Read Full Article...
Woman finds birth mother
Thu, Oct 8, 2009ONTARIO, Canada -- Questions Delia Doucette has long asked now have answers. Born in Sault Ste. Marie, Doucette was given up for adoption when she was four months old. Her mother, Marion Douglas, was just 16. Doucette's birth name was Nancy Douglas, named after Marion's favourite cousin. Doucette, 53, now works as a health care aide in a nursing home in Chatham. Read Full Article...
Finally getting chance to see birth certificate
Wed, Oct 7, 2009Shirley O'Grady is a determined person. The fruit of her determination landed in her mailbox on Aug. 27. It was a government letter. She opened it alone in her apartment and began to cry. Read Full Article...
Brother and sister unite after 44 years
Tue, Oct 6, 2009Biological brother and sister John Mark Eden and Misty De Le Rosa reunite after 44 years. Denver, Colorado - John Eden grew up knowing he'd been adopted, and wondered about his biological parents for years. Read Full Article...
Native American Adoptee Follows Her Dream
Tue, Oct 6, 2009Mary Youngblood "Aleut Wind," a track by Native American flute player Mary Youngblood off her album, "The Offering," is a solo instrumental that carries the listener through a story. Read Full Article...
Adoption record accessibility varies across Canada
Mon, Oct 5, 2009From a genealogical perspective, I'm very fortunate.I can research for years, uncovering one relative after another. From personal experience and photographs, I can see that I have my father's crooked upper lip, my mother's thick dark hair, the same eyes as my cousin.The DNA within my cells connects me with all my ancestors. Read Full Article...
Dear Birthmother: Thoughts from an Adoptive Mother
Mon, Oct 5, 2009An Adoptive Mother Sets the Record Straight About Birthmothers and Adoption Dear Birthmother. Almost twelve years ago, I sat down to my computer to pen the most important letter of my life. Read Full Article...
Flying home to meet birth mother
Sat, Oct 3, 2009Willie Whitescarver of Harrison looks through a photo album of his childhood, compiled by his adoptive mother, Shirley Childs. Whitescarver and his children will fly to South Korea this month to meet Willie's birth mother for the first time. Read Full Article...
A story of loss and separation
Fri, Oct 2, 2009Behind the glamour of adoption, new beginnings and happy reunions, there is another, darker side of loss and separation for birth mothers, birth families, and adoptees that is often left out of the discussion. Popular culture mostly fails to take up the issue from the perspective of the birth mother. Read Full Article...
Is "Mother" Jewelry Insensitive?
Thu, Oct 1, 2009A while ago, there was a debate on a listserv for parents who'd adopted from Korea. It was triggered by an advertisement for jewelry with the Korean letters spelling "omani". Many adoptive mothers embrace wearing the jewelry as a part of honoring their Korean-American children's birth culture. Read Full Article...
At age 75, man finds sister in Michigan
Wed, Sep 30, 2009Traudy Schwenk, left, and Arnold Nikolaisen pose for a photo on the second day of meeting each other in Michigan. (Courtesy Jennifer Nikolaisen) Like many children, Arnold Nikolaisen was not happy to learn he wasn't going to remain an only child. Read Full Article...
Brother and sister reunited after more than 70 years
Sat, Sep 26, 2009Arnold Nikolaisen, 75, shows Traudy Schwenk, 76, a photo of his parent's house in Minneapolis, Minn. Nikolaisen brought several photo albums to share with Traudy so that she could learn about the family she never knew. Read Full Article...
Darryl DMC McDaniels: My Adoption Journey
Sat, Sep 26, 2009Darryl "DMC" McDaniels On February 25, 2006, VH1 showed an excellent documentary about one mans journey toward an adoption reunion. Darryl "DMC" McDaniels of RUN-DMC, was that man. Read Full Article...
A Case of Adoption
Fri, Sep 25, 2009(Published March 1, 2005 in Ancestry Magazine) In the May/June 1999 edition of Ancestry Magazine, I wrote about finding my birth father, Vasco A. Leitao. The experience of learning about the man whose name was on my original birth certificate took my breath away. Read Full Article...
Co-Workers Find Out They're Brothers
Fri, Sep 25, 2009Gary Nisbet, 35, left, and Randy Joubert, 36, pose for a photo, in Waldoboro, Maine. The men who work together discovered they are brothers who were each raised by separate adoptive parents. Read Full Article...
Search for birth parents leads woman to South Carolina
Thu, Sep 24, 2009A search for answers led one woman to Aiken, South Carolina. Born Sept. 21, 1979, at 11:57 p.m. in the Aiken County Hospital, Holly Brown weighed 7 pounds and 9 ounces and was delivered by Dr. Read Full Article...
Birthmother and Son Reconnecting
Thu, Sep 24, 2009At this moment I don't have anybody to tell this to who would understand at 8:24 in the morning and is a birthmother. Last night my son arrived, sans girlfriend, stood at the front door of a man whom I consider to be my dearest friend. Since my son's arrival there has been a many years gap where people who were around me didn't know that he was actually missing in action in my life. Read Full Article...
Chasing your tale
Thu, Sep 24, 2009Ray Martinez, Mayor of Fort Collins, CO Apr 99 - Apr 05 Last year, when the StoryCorps MobileBooth stopped in Fort Collins Colorado, Ray Martinez sat in front of one of its microphones with some longtime friends and talked about the phases of his early life: the five years he spent at a Denver-area orphanage, and his subsequent adoption. Read Full Article...
Woman searches for long-lost brother
Thu, Sep 24, 2009A little boy in a butterbean field. A little boy, perhaps, with big, brown eyes. Beth Snyder, who lives in Decatur, Illinois, has little to go on in the search for her half brother, but she does know that he most likely grew up on a farm in the Reed Creek community, near Hartwell, in the late 1960s and '70s. Read Full Article...
A father's right hinges on state law
Wed, Sep 23, 2009FLORENCE, AL - Becoming a father can change a man's life, but what would you do if your rights to see your child were taken away? In the state of Alabama, there is a law pertaining to fathers called the Putative Father Registry. Read Full Article...
Adoption child information records
Wed, Sep 23, 2009Families can be easily separated by events such as adoption, separation, divorce, or foster care situations. The only chance that the family can get back together again is when of the parties decides to investigate that the adopted child information that the family has a chance of getting back together. It is sad that in some situations, family members do not want to be found at all and they will do anything in their power just to stay anonymous. Fortunately, a number of companies can assist the adopted child who wants to find birth parents, siblings, or other family members by locating the adoption records. Read Full Article...
Maine worker discovers new hire is lost brother
Tue, Sep 22, 2009In this Sept. 17, 2009 photo, Gary Nisbet, 35, left, and Randy Joubert, 36, pose for a photo, in Waldoboro, Maine. The men who work together discovered they are brothers who were each raised by separate adoptive parents. Read Full Article...
Woman, 78 years old, meets family for first time
Sun, Sep 20, 2009Gwen Howell has her mother's build, her mother's hands and her mother's earlobes.But she didn't know that until this summer, when she got to see photos of the woman who gave birth to her as a teenager and then made the painful decision to give her up for adoption.Howell, 78, also got to meet her sister Sharon Schulties -- one of the seven siblings she never knew about until internet sleuthing and a twist of timing brought them together."I've been so blessed," Howell said last week, sitting with Schultieses in the living room of her Kennewick home. Read Full Article...
Emotional Family Reunion for 89 Year Old Woman
Sat, Sep 19, 2009Pat Joralemon, 89, talks with her long lost half brother Keith Gibbs, 75, who traveled from Australia to Prescott on Wednesday to meet her for the first time. Click here for video on the siblings' first meeting With arms outstretched and eyes wide open, 89-year-old Pat Joralemon gasped as she stepped outside the front door of her eldest daughter's Prescott home this past Wednesday afternoon to embrace Keith Gibbs - a half-brother from another continent she never knew existed. Read Full Article...
Benefits of Adoption Registries
Thu, Sep 17, 2009For an adopted child, the journey to find his or her birth parents can be a long and emotional one, often leading to only disappointment in the end. Using a database in which information about the birth parents and adoptive parents is maintained, it becomes easier for the child to establish contact with the birth parents. Read Full Article...
Wondering for 37 years
Tue, Sep 15, 2009For more than three decades, Peter Giordano has been thinking about his birth family. Now, the 45-year-old is on the hunt for his birth parents and siblings. Born on July 22, 1964, Peter David Burton was taken from his parents at the age of two-and-a-half. Read Full Article...
Women ride emotional roller-coaster trying to find birthmothers
Mon, Sep 14, 2009In Seattle, Washington, Givenright Research claims to have reunited thousands of adoptees with their birth families. But now customers from all over the country claim they have been given worthless leads by the company. Read Full Article...
Sibling Revelry
Sun, Sep 13, 2009Ad completes long search for woman's long-lost family. Janis Lynn Pineda grew up in a nice family. Last week, she met up with another nice family -- the one she was born into. Last week, Pineda met with her long-lost brother and sister, Frank Thiemke and Sylvia Foley, in the Town of Lockport. Read Full Article...
Man wants adoptees to get access to medical history
Wed, Sep 9, 2009Being sent to top-notch schools and having the love of a "nice" adoptive family was never enough for Dan Haines, 47. "I had all of the best things in life," he said. "But I still felt a hollowness. Read Full Article...
Woman meets surrogate mother in reunion
Tue, Sep 8, 2009When Laura Wilson's flight from Kansas was approaching Los Angeles International Airport on Thursday, she was shaking with nerves at the prospect of meeting her biological mother and family for the first time. Read Full Article...
Never taken for granted
Mon, Sep 7, 2009I am a birthmother. I relinquished my daughter in 1976 and never thought I would see her again. I never forgot her and spent years wondering what she looked like, how she was doing in school and whether she was happy and safe. I had to endure the grief of having lost a child but had very little support in that loss. Six years ago, my life changed when I received a call from the moderator of the Colorado Adoption Search group, telling me she had just spoken with my daughter. Read Full Article...
Woman finds birth mother through state records
Sun, Sep 6, 2009Rita Updike, 47, with her daughter Ariah, 17, was reunited with her birth mother, Abelina Montoya, 69, after her birth certificate was made public by the state of Colorado. Rita Updike, who was adopted, went to Denver to apply for her birth certificate June 29 and received information that led her to reunite with her birth family two weeks later. Rita Updike was lying on the floor of her apartment for more than 45 minutes, shaking and crying, clutching the phone in her hand. At that moment, she was closer to finding her biological mother than at any other time in her 47 years. She had just got off the phone with her grandmother, who at 93 years old never knew she existed until July 13. She was waiting for her mother to call back. Read Full Article...