Dear Mr. Morgan, I am writing to thank you for finding my birthmothers name for me a few years ago. You were kind enough to go to the basement of the Newport News courthouse and give me the name Xxxxx Xxx Xxx. I searched for a long time for her and finally gave up, but I put her name and a vague inquiry about her on a genealogy and last Thursday a woman called and said I think I am your aunt. She gave me all the correct information that matched the information in my orginal social workers report when I was born. I have been so blessed. I look just like her. I had strangely converted to Catholicsm last Easter, and it turns out that all the Xxxx are Catholics. They are all musicans, poets, writers and artists, so am I. It has all been very moving and my aunts have been very supportive of myself and my birthmother. I live in Texas and none of that family has ever been out here before they all live in North Carolina and have for 200 years, and I knew that I would never be able to travel to Virginia easily to search. We would never have found each other without your help. Thank you.Gail
Then just got a relay of emails from Diane . my Richmond searcher. I had passed a case on to her and she had GREAT find. GO DIANE!!! and BEST WISHES Lori!!! Thanx for letting us share the story!!!
Yes, Anposis is the one who recommended you. I would be glad for you to let Tim know about my reunion, and if he wants to say anything about it on his site, I'm all for it.
I am in a daze! Jane emailed me back last night and confirmed that she is my birth mother for sure. All the information matches. She said she had never forgotten about me and that I had family that loved me!!! What a feeling!! She said that I have 2 full sisters, and had a full brother that is not living. She and my birthfather are now separated or divorced, and have been for about 12 years. He also has a son and a daughter. We also talked on the phone for about an hour. She seems like a really nice lady. The amazing thing is........she lives an hour or less away from me!!!! I figured she was still in Richmond, but she now lives in Xxxxxxxx, close to Xxxxxx where I live. My high school football team plays against theirs, and did when I was in high school! She has only been living here for 3 years. Also, I thought I would share this with you. Jane said that she had the impression that the adoption records would be left open, so she wasn't shocked when I told her that her full name was left on the relinquishment paper. But I told her that no, it wasnt open, and that her name had been left on there by mistake, or a sympathetic social worker or something. So I guess they told her that any time I wanted information, all I had to do was call CHS. She also said that they told her that my adoptive father was a lawyer!! I told her no, he had never been a lawyer. He is, and far as I know, always has been a factory worker or a janitor. She said maybe they meant my adoptive mother, and she has never been a lawyer either!! She works at the same factory since when she adopted me!! Im starting to think that CHS isn't a very honest agency. I have talked to Jane every day since Wednesday, and we email back and forth. She seems like a really nice lady. We haven't set a time to meet yet, but we plan to sometime in the near future. I think we are still in shock. I am feeling better though. At first I couldn't eat or sleep. But yesterday we talked for over an hour, and it was easier to talk to her. It's funny, when I'm not talking to her I miss her. I am excited waiting to talk to her because I almost forget how her voice sounds. Sometimes it is hard because you really dont know what things are okay to ask and say and what arent. I guess we're trying to feel one another out right now. My husband is happy for me. So is my mom and grandmother. They are the only ones I have told so far. My birthfather has my number and is supposed to call me. Jane called him and told him he is a grandfather, and he said "WHAT?". I am nervous about talking to him also! But it is a great feeling to gain so much family in just a matter of days! Full sisters and a half brother and half sister! I can hardly believe it!! Jane seems so nice. She has been through so much. She seems happy that I found her. I have been talking on the phone to my birthmother Jane usually every other day, and we email several times a day. I am excited (and nervous!) about meeting her face to face. We haven't set an exact date to do this, she is waiting for her cousin to tell her when she can bring her. We live about an hour away from each other, and she doesn't think she will be able to drive herself. I am being patient with her too though, because she may just need more time to prepare for meeting me. I have alot in common with her, it is funny because we do lots of things alike. I have talked to my birthfather Jimmy on the phone twice. He is a real funny guy! He is one wild man!! I think they both have some regrets and guilt about placing me, but I hope we can work through these things. He also wants to meet, but the drive is 4 hours so we are waiting until he comes to town to see his other daughters (my full sisters) and will meet then. I did tell you I had 2 sisters, right? I also had a full brother that was stillborn. And I have 2 half brothers and a half sister, who is just about 10 months older than my little girl! I thank you SO much for helping me find them. Without you, this wouldnt have happened, there is no way. You have made us all very happy!!!! Thanks again. Yes, my birthfather is remarried. He and his current wife have been married for about 12 years now. He and my birthmother were married back in 1980, and divorced back about 12 years ago. He got a girl pregnant when he was in high school, and she placed the baby for adoption. That son found him several years ago, and had grown up in the same town as my birthfather. And he also had a son that has the same birthday as me, but 4 years older, from the woman he was married to at the time of my birth. And he has the 6 year old with his current wife. I told him he must be an easy man to find if 2 children that were adopted found him!!
Mary, a BirthMother, has been driving down from Baltimore to attend meetings here of and on for the last year or so because she had surrendered her daughter here in Hampton. Well, she showed up for the January meeting with a grin that wouldn't stop. She had located her daughter, it seems that her daughter had registered with Reunion Registry and Mary had finally gotten around to doing it and WHAM an hour later got the call..."A MATCH has been made." Mary had her daughter's phone # and was going to call her that night after the meeting. We spent most of the meeting reassuring her and talking about "that call" Thankfully it went even better than we had hoped for. Mary reports that her daughter was overjoyed to be found, she has lost both her Adoptive parents and is eager to welcome Mary into her life. Plans were made for a face-to-face meeting here the following Sunday and we expect Mary to make the Febuary meeting with at least photos, if not with Daughter and GrandDaughter in the flesh. Congratulations Mary, it is well deserved.
I got an email from Melissa the other day, she had contacted us about a year ago when she was starting her search. We provided her some info and advice and she reports it has paid off. She made contact with her BirthMother in October. They went slow at first as Melissa's birth was not something known by many of her BirthMother's family/friends. Letters and photos led to lengthy phone calls and now plans aree made for a face-to-face at Melissa's home in Mass. in Febuary. "...such a healing time for both of us that has few words to express it adequately." Our Best Wishes go out to Melissa and her Mom and hope that they will have years of happy times together.
Daniel contacted us via email a couple of months ago. He was a Massachusets adoption who had been lucky enough to get from the agency his BirthMother's name and year of birth as well as the fact she had been born here in Newport News. With the info he had from the non-id, I ran a Social Security Death Index check and turned up what I though could be his Grandfather. So a trip to the library got me the obituary and sure enough he had a daughter with the same name as Daniel's BirthMother, listed as living in Mass. A quick check of the yearbooks on hand got me a Senior photo as well. Sent the info to Daniel-His wife says there is a resemblance-and he managed to get a DMV run on the name and came up with a hit. He wrote her a letter Tuesday and she called Saturday. Daniels email of today reads..."we had a wonderful, easy going, calm and comfortable conversation. "Yes," she said, "it's me." She did not feel it was her perogative to search, but said she has always felt that she would be very willing to be found, if that were to happen. We hope to meet a week from today, over Columbus Day weekend." So Congratulations to daniel and we look forward to hearing about the face-to-face.
Well after 4 years we finally had sucess with Tracey. She had been searching for her BirthMom for quite awhile. She was born in DC and adopted in VA so it was quite a messy case. She had petitioned the state for a search but was having no luck there either. We had managed to guesstimate a name from the non-id and when she got dropped a hint as to her BirthMom coming from MD well off she went...she got a BirthIndex for MD and found a name that she thought matched and started tracking her. As it turns out when she called the library in MD to get some "genealogical" info, the woman who helped her turned out to be a cousin of her BirthMom and knew how to connect them. Well to make a long story short Tracey has talked to her BirthMom and has lots and lots of pictures and we hope to hear more good news soon.
Talk about a great story! Lorrie contacted us a few months ago from Richmond. She is an adoptee and a Birthmother and was hoping we could help her search for her son Brian. As we talked over the next few weeks we encouraged her to follow thru on a search for her Birthmother. Lorrie had a lot of info and we were able to determine that her grandmother lived near by and we located the birthmom in Washington state. Well as things turned out Lorrie couldn't reach her Birthmom by phone and then I saw an obituary in the local paper for her grandmother. I called Lorrie and said I know it isn't the best situation but you need to go to the funeral and at least get a look at her. Well we met for lunch beforehand and I read over a letter Lorrie had written in which she explained that she didn't want to intrude on the family at this time but hoped that her Birthmom would at least call since they might not have a chance to meet again living so far apart. At the graveyard after the service Lorrie had the opportunity to quitely approach her Birthmother with noone else around and hand her the letter. She looked down and the envelope then up into Lorrie's face and you could see the realization hit her. Lorries' adoptive mom who was standing with me just a few feet away said..."You know, don't you !" Lorrie was quickly enveloped into a big hug and she and her Birthmom dissolved into tears. It was a good reunion and Lorrie was able to go to the airport the next day to see her off and to introduce her to Lorrie's husband and 2 kids. Lorrie is still searching for her son but has a renewed faith and tons more support from her renewed family connections. It was an experience I will never forget and I wish them all much Happiness.
Karen contacted us via email last year in hopes of locating her birthmother. Unfortunately we weren't able to offer more then moral support as her records were limited in information and availability. But we persevered and then one day karen emailed me and asked about her entry on a registry. I explained we don't oversee the registries, we merely recommend them and strongly suggest that everyone register. I told her to go to the website and check out each registry and resubmit her info to be sure she got them all. Well as it turned out she registereed for 1 registry and a match was made!! But the registry was having trouble getting in touch with the Birthmom as the only contact they had was an email and so far there was no response. using the info off the registry and karens family and friends who still live in the area contact was finally made. Right now its a little rocky but we hope and pray things will improve.
When Francine first came to the group we thought sure it would be a matter of days to locate her son. 32 years ago when she was 16 Francine's parents forced her to go to a home for unwed mothers to deliver and surrender her son. She was expected to never discuss the event again. By the time Francine had found our group she knew more about her son then seemed possible. She had already determined his adoptive name and that of the parents. She knew where he grew up, what schools he went to including college. She knew he was an opera singer and had even done some summer theatre in MD. She knew he was living in CA but thats where the brick wall started. She just couldn't locate him!!! Well, we couldn't either! However after some advice and heart to heart talks she called the Adoptive mom, and while it wasn't that productive of a call it did furnish much neede info. Thanx to Nick, our new PI find in Fla. Francine was able to obtain a phone # for her son...turns out he had changed his name BACK to what he had understood was his BIRTH NAME!!!--He had it a bit wrong but its definately the thought that counts!!! Well it has been the most wonderful of reunions... Antoine flew out to VA to visit and we had a BABY SHOWER for him at Francines so everyone could meet him. I can't describe the love that filled her house that day...it was an honor and a joy to have been a part of it. Much joy and many Happy Wishes to Francine, her daughter Cece (hope I spelled it right) and her old-"new" son Antoine!!!
Back in Nov. Delores came to a group meeting and told her story. She was a Birthmother who had surrendered her son when she was 16. She knew very little information that would help in a search. We suggested she contact the Agency she placed him with and review her non-id and update the file and see if she could get something for us to go on. Delores didn't come back for the Dec or the Jan meetings and we all wondered what happened to "That pretty young blonde Bmom that cried all the time". Well as luck would have it Delores showed up at the March meeting with the info from the agency and 24 hours later we had a name, address, and phone # for her son. It took her awhile to get up the courage but she finally called and has since met the Adoptive Mom..."A real nice lady, I couldn't ask for a better mother for my son." She gave Delores a bunch of pictures of Richard from 2 months on up!! The next day Delores met Richard himself and all seems to be going well. They live only 10 minutes away from each other and his birthday is the first week of May. For the first time in 27 years it won't be a sad day for Delores! CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!Delores came to the May meeting and brought pictures that Richards Adoptive Mom had given her of Richard from age 2 months to present. Also her FIRST Mothers Day card!!!We are so happy for you Delores.
We got a post on the website from Pam back in Dec 97. When I communicated with her about her case she told me that her adoption was a private arrangement. Her Adoptive Mom and her Birth Aunt were good friends at the time of Pam's birth. As a young girl Pam was taken often to her BAunts house to play with her cousins. Pam had her Bmoms maiden name as well as her BAunts married name and address where she used to live. I gave Pam some tips on how we would search the old phone cross reference directories to confirm the Aunts last name and the first name of her husband. Well, Pam took it upon herself to do that and came up with the name--a very unusual name with an odd spelling!. Pam also did a phone disc check of the US after receiving more advice from us and turned up a current address and phone # for her Aunt now living in GA. Pam took a little time out from the search to get her thoughts together and become a Grandma (CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL!) On March 20 I recieved a note from Pam saying she had called her Aunt!!! She has also talked with several cousins all who knew of her and were waiting and hoping she would contact them someday. She also has a brother David with whom she shares a Birthday!!! Her Bmom is having trouble believing its real-she's afraid its a dream! Pam says..."I'll have to dream new dreams now! Thanks for all your help and encouragement!"
Talk about a good feeling...I was contacted Jan 31,97 by Diane, an adoptee searching for info about her birth family. She had been adopted in Hampton in the 60's. Upon investigating the case I discovered that her birth family had been looking for her since 1977! Well that alone was good news, add to that the fact that I was able to turn up her bmom's name, date of birth, address, and Social Security #! I thought this would be an easy case...boy was I wrong! Even with all that info I couldn't locate Diane's bmom Dee anywhere. I had 5 different addressess and none were up to date.I ran a phone search for VA and MD...the 2 states Dee seemed to be partial to and came up with some 2 dozen listings with her last name. However 1 was listed with a first initial D. So I took a chance and called on Valentine's Day and got an answering machine. Left a message and hoped against hope. 3 days later I had about given up when I got a call from Dee, she had been out of town and had only just gotten my message. She was overjoyed to be found and willingly gave me permission to pass on her phone # to Diane. They talked that nite for over an hour and are attempting to arrange a meeting.Just under a month and Dee's 21 year search was over and Diane had discovered answers to some of her questions. We wish them both lots of luck in their future relationship!
Heard from Patty in MD on Jan 18,1998! I had contacted her in Oct. '97 and offered our help. Because her adoption had taken place in MD we had to refer her to a searcher there-Talk about success!! It turns out that although Patty's birthmom had passed away in 1985, she was buried nearby and Patty has been to visit the grave.(Been there, done that!)From a second marriage there are 2 1/2 brothers she is making contact with. Hope all goes well with that. UPDATE!! 01/29/98 Patty met with an aunt and some cousins. They presented her with an old family photo album containing 27 pages of pictures of Patty as a baby-pictures she would have never had as she was adopted at 3yrs. and so never had baby pictures. There is even one of her birthfather, who she resembles, holding her that is labeled "Proud Papa" There was also a picture of a little brother she never knew existed-the search goes on. We wish Patty all the best luck!!!
Well it took awhile but we finally located Jennifer for her Bdad Steve. One of our members, Tracy, saw Steve's post on AOL Adoption Forum and responded. We found the adoption records fairly easily but as it turned out the Aparents had moved away so we had to look for them. Located them in PA but contact didn't go as well as hoped. After 3 months of long waiting we tried another option. Rick, our Northern VA searcher drove up to PA and searched out Jennifers marriage license.(Who says we dont have dedicated workers!)Now we had a married name, asimple search of phone discs turned up a match and just before Christmas Steve spoke with Jennifer for the first time. Steve has 2 other biological children and 4 adopted children so he really sees both sides of the coin here. Steve opted to let Jennifer make the next move(smart move)as she was going home to spend holidays with her Aparents. No word yet but we are all hoping for the best!!
I received word that Judy spoke with her son John Friday 12/5 and plans are for a long talk on Sunday. I found Judy's post on BirthQuest and offered our help. We were able to locate John the week of Thanksgiving and he agreed to a contact.Judy says "It feels like I died and went to Heaven." John will celebrate his 30th Birthday on Dec. 25th!!! What a Christmas for both He and Judy. Best Wishes to them both!!!
Jim hoped we could help him locate his Bmom. I took a special interest in his case because we share the same Birthday; May,11. Every now and the it falls on the second Sunday of the month and is Mother's Day! I had to find Dorothy before then. As luck would have it we made it with a week to spare. Jim called recently and said things were still going good with their reunion and he was ready to start looking for his Dad. Here we go again!
Heard from Lynette in Richmond that Theresa spoke with her Bmom Joan on Thanksgiving. Wow ,what a way to celebrate-what a day to remember. Joan was in N.C. and drove up to see Theresa later that day. Hope all continues to go well for them!
Word comes from Sharon that the family continues to grow. What started as a case we thought we would NEVER solve has led NOT to the 4 siblings we knew of BUT @ 15 at last count. She has met 5 so far and has talked to many other family members.
Halloween was quite a day of Treats for Lynn and Bmom Linda. Linda came up from Texas to meet the baby she had given up.We wish them the best as they continue to reconnect.
Lynette, our Richmond searcher tells me that Linda is very happy about being reunited with her son and twin daughters. All have met and seem to have settled into a wonderful relationship. Best wishes to them all
Joel finally connected with his Birthmother after many start/stop attempts.We were able to locate her with a data bank search and he has already been to visit.
I met Lil years ago when I first joined the support group. She was looking for her daughter. After 2 years she decided to call it quits. It broke my heart to hear her say she was giving up. I just couldn't leave it at that. A data bank search turned up the info that led us to Carolyn and they have had a pleasant phone conversation and plan to meet after Carolyn has her third child. Best wishes to all!
Janice reported a wonderful reunion with her Brthmom AND 4 FULL Siblings. Her Birthparents married years later and raised a family. Janice says there is so much resemblence, she feels so at home that she couldn't ask for anything better.
Avis contacted us looking for her son. An east Internet search turned up the info on the Adoptive parents and they happily arranged contact. She has since moved to Fla. to be closer to him. The Adoptive family welcomed her with open arms.
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