[Misa]

I've been searching for my birthfamily on and off for the past 20 years. A couple of years ago I posted on this site and a search angel contacted me and helped me obtain my birth name: baby girl Morris.

The courts granted me some of my non-id info. It confirmed "baby girl Morris" and my date of birth. I was born in CA and adopted in NJ. According to the papers, my a-parents called an attorney in CA saying they wanted to adopt a child. The day I was born the attorney called my a-parents, who then flew out to CA to get me two days later. They arrived at the hospital at 7:00 a.m and were back on a plane with me to NJ by 8:30 a.m. I have to admit, that struck me as odd. Sounds like a grab-n-dash... There was alot of info blacked out, like the hospital I was born in (weird) and the usual names, but I did get enough information with dates to start searching.

So this is my confusion. I go onto ancestry since they have lots of california databases available. My birthmom had a child already, a son and it lists his full date of birth. I do a search using his bday and Morris as mother's maiden. ONE hit! Wow! Okay, I know she was married temporarily to the son's father AND I know the full date she got married. Ran a search...WOW! There's the Morris lady marrying a guy with the same last name as the "son" I found! So I think to myself...THAT'S HER!

Nope. Actually, she's listed on this site looking for her daughter who was born the year before me. I contacted her anyway. Nope. She says she's not the one I'm looking for. ???? I found it hard to believe at first that it wasn't her because what are the chances of two people with the same name having children with the same name on the same day and marrying guys with the same name on the same day....but either way, its not her.

I don't find it hard to believe anymore. I found out that the attorney that handled the case on the NJ side was indicted in 1976 on charges relating to "black/gray market" adoptions. WHAT??? It was an investigation that started in NJ and ended up involving 5 different states and 8 babies, but the investigation only went back to 1972. I was born in 1969....

So where do I go from here? I feel like I'm just running in circles at this point and should resign myself to never knowing the truth. I'm sorry this is such a long post, but this has been eating away at me and I don't know how to move forward with my search or if I should even move forward at all.

[Dickons]

Have you written to the person in the state office that investigated the attorney? That would be where I would start...they may have investigated farther back but had insufficent proof to charge for prior years.

The second question is have you talked to your parents about the legalities of your adoption in relation to the charges brought against the attorney?

If you still continue to hit brick walls then I would petition the court to open my adoption file (not the non id thing) based on the charges brought against the attorney and the fact that you need to know that you were not bought/sold...use extreme mental stress as the medical cause if needed.

Good luck,
Dickons

[Misa]

The prosecutor involved passed away quite a few years ago. So has the lawyer. Also the lawyer who handled the California side of things is gone too. I was considering calling anyway to see if I can get any more info on the case.

As far as my parents are concerned, that's not an option. My mother passed away several years ago, but had told me NJ child services would visit the house occasionally during my first year until the adoption was finalized in 1970. That is true looking at the papers I did get because they made mention that "the home of the plaintiffs shows excellent housekeeping standards and decorating taste." My father is in his 80's now. I don't want to bring anything up that would upset him at his age.

Great idea though about opening my adoption file based on the investigation.

Thank you for the ideas Dickons! You've inspired me to keep trudging ahead