Colleen
Senior Member
- Location
- Pennsylvania
I'm 72 and was adopted at age 3. My bio mother gave me up at 3 years old to marry a man that told her "he didn't want someone else's kid." It was a private adoption...no agency involved...because my bio mother and adoptive mother worked together so they knew each other. My birth name was changed and I didn't give it much thought as I grew up. I don't remember my bio mother at all, which is probably good because she was quite a women, as I'd learn much later in life.
My adoptive mother would never tell me anything about my background and I never asked questions. I never had any brother's or sister's because my mother couldn't have children. That explains why I've always been a loner and liked my own company the best.
My mother was very verbally abusive to me and my dad and a very difficult person to live with. I left home at 19 just to get away from her. I made a lot of wrong choices along the way and she never let me forget it.
Fast forward to 2009 when I started searching on Ancestry for my bio mother. I only knew her first name but after some searching, I found her information and her family. She passed away in 2002 so I never got to connect with her. I did find out that she had had 4 children with the man she gave me up for and my husband and I took a trip to meet them. What a shock that was. My husband said, when we left, that I should be glad my bio mother gave me up. I still didn't know who my bio father was and thought I'd never find out. Did it really matter at this point in my life? Yes...and no. I was mostly interested in my medical history as I got older.
Then I received some help through a support group for adoptees on Facebook. It only took her 2 days to locate who my bio father was. I was amazed to find out what nationality I was on both sides of my parents. It was interesting to learn his story and what he was like. He passed away in 1993 but I did talk to his daughter recently and we shared a lot of things that Ancestry couldn't tell me.
Has anyone else been adopted and do you know your story??
My adoptive mother would never tell me anything about my background and I never asked questions. I never had any brother's or sister's because my mother couldn't have children. That explains why I've always been a loner and liked my own company the best.
My mother was very verbally abusive to me and my dad and a very difficult person to live with. I left home at 19 just to get away from her. I made a lot of wrong choices along the way and she never let me forget it.
Fast forward to 2009 when I started searching on Ancestry for my bio mother. I only knew her first name but after some searching, I found her information and her family. She passed away in 2002 so I never got to connect with her. I did find out that she had had 4 children with the man she gave me up for and my husband and I took a trip to meet them. What a shock that was. My husband said, when we left, that I should be glad my bio mother gave me up. I still didn't know who my bio father was and thought I'd never find out. Did it really matter at this point in my life? Yes...and no. I was mostly interested in my medical history as I got older.
Then I received some help through a support group for adoptees on Facebook. It only took her 2 days to locate who my bio father was. I was amazed to find out what nationality I was on both sides of my parents. It was interesting to learn his story and what he was like. He passed away in 1993 but I did talk to his daughter recently and we shared a lot of things that Ancestry couldn't tell me.
Has anyone else been adopted and do you know your story??