[msbrenna]

hi...i've always known i was adopted, but when i turned 18 i was given a file folder with a newspaper article that was about a baby left on a doorstep (me), along with a hospital i.d. bracelet with the name jane doe on it...i was left on a doorstep in ventura california on feb 11, 1963, the haas family home in downtown ventura with no identifying info....recently i was given some info that my bmom may have been a local high school girl named barbara mc elhaney...but thats just speculation....do you think i have any chance of ever finding out anything???

brenna

[christine33]

try yearbooks for the school. mostly all high schools keep back issues. good luck!!!!

[msbrenna]

hiya...thanks for the idea...i have looked this gal up in a yearbook from that time (her name was evelyn mc elhaney, not barbara as i said in my previous post...) and i recently checked the california marriage index and found she had married at age 18 in 1962, and then remarried 3 years later...no other marriages for california were listed so if she stayed married to that one i now have her married name to check out too the pic in the yearbook was kind of grainy and b/w, and a group photo not a single pic like they do now...so it was very hard to see...some of my friends and relatives thought they saw some sort of resemblance...but i didn't....guess it doesn't hurt to ask...but how do you ask when you find...hello...did you leave a baby on a doorstep in 1963? somehow i dont think that'll cut it...
an interesting note...my aparents, who were foster parents and had got me from the beginning were not told by social services that i was being put up for adoption...a gal from the probation dept called and said they better get the paperwork in cuz i was being put up....kinda strange, huh? is there anything i can do with that info??

[summer324]

Hi there.....Have you thought of hiring someone to do the search for you with the name you have? If social services handled the adoption (even though they don't have your bmoms name) maybe with the info you have they will do the search for you. I am using them right now and it is a reasonable fee but I dont know how they would handle the situation without your bmoms identifying info. It's worth a try though. Are you in California? If you looked up her marriage cert. then maybe you can find her address and mail her a letter saying that you are looking for .........who left a child on a doorstep......Im sure you could put something together that sounds good and let her know that you are interested in some info if that is possible if she in fact is your bmom....... GOOD LUCK

Lisa

[msbrenna]

well...i really dont have the money to spend on a pro search right now...(im a single parent trying to raise 4 boys with an ex hubby who owes over 90k in back child support and just quit my job to go back to school full time!)...maybe some day

i have found some interesting info...this gal married a ronald matthews in 1962 and i found him on classmates.com and found that he was in the navy on a ship from 62-68....apparently they divorced because she remarried in 1965...what im wondering is did they marry because of a pregnancy...did she tell him the baby didn't survive? or she put the baby up for adoption? whoever gave birth to me kept me for apx 5 days according to the doc at the time...and it took a year for me to be put up for adoption, so im wondering if maybe she couldn't handle it being alone (remember, he was on a ship) and panicked and left me on a doorstep of a family who had lots of kids??

interesting theory, huh?
brenna

[FatBirdy]

Yes, that is a good theory.

Have you contacted Ronald Matthews? He sounds like a good lead. Maybe you could just send him an email that asks if he is in fact Evelyn McElhaney's exhusband....get him chatting before you drop the 'bomb'!

[summer324]

Yes that is an interesting theory.... Possible though. Have you tried checking with social services though? It isn't expensive. I'm doing it. They charge by your income. Try and see what happens. It can't hurt. Sorry to hear about all that back child support. I hate when I hear about that. My ex is good about paying so I don't have to deal with that. Have they attached his wages?? Good luck

Lisa

[msbrenna]

well...i just found the info on him this morning...i dont have a subscription to classmates so they wont let me email him, but i have a friend who does and i've asked her to get his email for me i AM goin to write him and see what he says....

[msbrenna]

no, i have not checked with social services..i suppose i should...you never know, right? with the info my amom gave me about the probation dept bringing me to her and them being the ones letting her know a year later that i was being put up for adoption, i am goin to check with the probation dept here too...you never know!

this is kinda exciting... good luck with your search too! you are in california too??

yea, my ex is a piece of work...they've attached his wages...but as he hasn't worked in over 5 years (he's been writing a book and lettin his current wife support him) i doubt it'll do any good!
glad to hear tho that some people have good luck with their ex's yay!!

brenna

[summer324]

Definately check with the courts and social services. I bet they have a file on you. All I had to do was call and speak to someone and they called me in for a meeting when they obtained my records from archives. That simple. I am in Maryland though so I don't know the law where you are.

Yes my ex is good about the child support but a pain in the @#$ about anything else.....he still wants me back...but is married too. So see....most are a piece of work...LOL

Lisa

[msbrenna]

ok...im still trying to grasp what just happened...i had contacted the local newspaper, a columnist who has done stories on other adoptees who have searched and found...and she called me and has said she thinks my story would make a great mothers day story!!! she's coming to interview me and my amom on monday! 41 years ago i was featured on the front page of this paper as an abandoned baby an now they are gonna do a followup! amazing!!! maybe this will help jog someones memory, huh??? i'm sooo excited right now!

brenna

[christine33]

best of luck to you !!!!! i would be excited too

[msbrenna]

thanks!! it just seemed that the last few months things just started falling into place with a series of coincidences...and who knows...maybe this newspaper article will help finalize things! i'll definately keep y'all updated im so excited and in shock over everything that i dont know whether to laugh, scream or cry! :P

xxoo's!
brenna

[summer324]

That is so cool!!! I bet you are screaming inside. This could be a MAJOR breakthrough. Are they going to have a number that people can call if they have information about you? WOW this is so exciting. You must be going crazy!!LOL Keep us posted!!!

Lisa

[msbrenna]

oh wow lisa, its just....WOW! i couldn't even sleep last nite thinking about this! for over 20 years i've tried to get this newspaper to do a followup on that abandoned baby that was on their front page in 1963(me)...i've even talked to this particular reporter about it before....but nothing....until now...there just seems to be something right about this time in my life....all these coincidences, from meeting up with old friends in high school at our reunion, to starting a web site for former students of the schools in this area, then students from the early 60's finding that website and joining up, me posting a question to them about my bparents, and them remembering a 40 year old rumor and it's all just snoballed from there!! very strange how things turn out....
xxoo's!
brenna