I called the Social Services department, or what ever it was called and they referred me to the county adoption agency. We went through several orientation sessions and they did a home visit (at which time, they asked Chris if he would like to have a little sister and he said NO, he wanted a brudder. Then he came back later and said he guessed a sister would be ok, but he would have to spend a lot of time teaching her stuff -- he was 4 and you know how they act!!!). We filled out all kinds of financial reports and had a series of meetings so they could try to be sure we would be good parents and by and by they called and said they had a baby girl and the social worker brought out a picture of you which looked so much like a baby picture of mine that I considered it an omen. God met for you to be our baby! She also gave us a sheet of background information about when you were born, how much you weighed, etc. As I recall, there were no known medical problems with either parent, except that your mother was overweight. I believe they thought your father was Italian. But, they didn't know anything else about him, except that he was married to someone else, and there was no thought of him marrying your mother.

They said your mother had grown up with a military father and he ran the household like a boot camp. She rebelled and at the age of 16, she ran away from home and got married. She had three children and was divorced at the age of 21 or 22. I believe she had one baby before you that she had already put out for adoption. So, somewhere, you probably have 3 and maybe 4 half brothers/sisters. That's the big news! I think you might be able to find them if you can find out your last name. I think she had also been going to school and trying to get her life together.

Ohio had a law that adoptions could not be finalized until the baby was three months old. They wanted to give the mother enough time to recover from the birth, get her life organized and be sure this was what she wanted to do.

So, you were placed in foster care right from the hospital. The first foster home you were in, the lady got sick and had to have an operation, so they moved you to a second home. We picked you up at the second home and met the foster mother and her 10 year old daughter. They were very sad to give you up. By the time three months went by, the county had lost track of your mother, I think she moved. So then, the social worker called and said that they had to advertise in the legal news that the county was taking custody of you and it could be a year or more before you were released for adoption. But, they had another little girl that we could get right away. However, as I said, I thought the picture was an omen, so we told the social worker we would wait and if we couldn't get you, we would just do with one child.

Fortunately, they found your mother about 2 months later and we got custody of you in February. When we picked you up, the foster mother gave us several sheets of paper where she and the previous foster mother had written one paragraph every week, telling what you were doing that week. When you started solid food, what foods you liked, when you smiled and rolled over, things like that. That was the only documentation we ever had, that I can remember, except the birth certificate.

Originally, we thought we would get you before Christmas, but then when they couldn't get the release, we didn't get you until later. I've always felt sad that we didn't know about your first Christmas. I don't think there was anything about it on the logs, I 've always thought it must have occurred when the first foster mother was sick or something.

As I said, Dad and I always thought you would want to know about your history sometime and we decided early on to help you in any way we could, once you were old enough to deal with the negatives you might turn up.

When we first started counseling, one of those psychiatrists asked us if we had told you everything we knew. I told him no because you had never asked. He said you wanted to know and I should bring up the subject. That was when I told you about your mother. However, later I wasn't sure if that had been a good idea or not, because I thought you kind of used that to pattern your own behavior. If you remember, you wanted to run away at 16, too -- but we wouldn't let you.

I talked to Sue the other night, she is taking in some skirts for me. She thinks part of Theresa's problem was that she did find her mother. Theresa always thought her mother would be a marvelous person who would never criticize and always be loving and nurturing. Her mother was a toothless prostitute on the Cass corridor and Theresa didn't know how to talk to her, let alone deal with her.

You have always been a very soft hearted person and I pray that whatever you find, you'll remember to watch out for yourself (and family). Heredity counts for some things, but environment and luck play a big part too. Your life experiences are very different than any of your blood relatives. The past is past and the future is in your hands. I really hope you will find marvelous people -- but if you don't, you've always got us.