Adoption Week e-Magazine Article
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Dani's Reunion Story
Dani (CA)
My father was born in 1948. He was respectfully placed for adoption at the time of his birth. My search for biological family started in 1997. It took me until 2004 to find anything!
After several petitions to the court, they finally granted me a copy of the entire adoption file, including a copy of the original birth certificate. I now had the name of my grandmother, an age (at the time of birth) and where her birth place was. From there, using many genealogy resources online, I was able to locate who her family was. Utilizing a website that has thousands and thousands of obituary archives, I was able to find an obit for one of her relatives that had passed away, and it gave her current full name (married name). (It only cost a few dollars to get the full article.)
After finding that, I was able to locate a current address for her, and I sent a letter (certified, of course, so that I knew she got it). Prior to actually finding that information, however, I had written to a few of her family members with a very brief (vague) letter stating that I was trying to locate her for some genealogy research.
I didn't hear back from my grandmother right away, but we did have a brief conversation. Before the conversation could go anywhere, someone came in the room and she had to hang up. I did end up talking to one of her sons; he was not able to share much information with me because she hadn't talked to him since the time of my father's birth. A year after my initial contact with this man (my uncle), I received an invitation in the mail to go to Michigan for his daughter's graduation party. He indicated that it might be a great opportunity to meet other family members. I met my uncle and his family. I met 2 of my grandmother's sisters and their families. I met several other cousins as well. It was so exciting to meet all of these new people ~ yet it felt as if I had known them forever! This was very fulfilling for me. It wasn't exactly what I set out for, but it was better than I could have ever expected!
Since all of this, my grandmother has died. She left behind another daughter. Unfortunately, this daughter never knew of her mother's first marriage and her first 2 sons. She never knew of the 3rd baby that was given up for adoption. I have sent a letter, along with a copy of the adoption information, pictures and a request for health history. (She is really the only one that can shed much light on that.) She is not responding. I understand that the information I sent may have shocked her, and it may take time to settle, but it has been quite a while. I understand that I may never hear from her, but everyday I pray that I do.
My point in all of this...there are so many resources that are out there, we just have to find them and use them (most without a lot of expense). Don't give up your search! If you don't find what you are looking for in one spot, try another and another! I wish all of you out there searching the best of luck!!
