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The Salvation Army Western Territory’s Missing Persons office helps reunite a family.
By Lois Sellers
Barbara, born at the Booth Memorial Hospital in Los Angeles in 1960 and adopted at birth, contacted our office—Missing Persons at Territorial Headquarters—in April hoping to reunite with her birth mother. She had obtained non-identifying information regarding her birth from the adoption agency, including the fact that she had been born at the L.A. Booth, which is what led her to us. She was happy to learn that our Booth Services included a confidential search for her birth mother.
Barbara didn’t learn that she was adopted until age 22. She lost her adoptive mother as a young child and was raised by her adoptive father who was good to her but did not reveal that she was adopted.
An avid genealogist, Barbara did an extensive family tree on her adoptive family, but her children are not particularly interested in the family history. Barbara said it would be good to develop a history on her birth family.
When we located a current address for Barbara’s birth mother, I advised Barbara to prepare a note and photo. If the birth mother confirmed that she was the correct party, I would let her know that these items were available. I sent a letter to Dorla, the birth mother, at the end of April. She called the very next day!
“My heart is racing,” Dorla said, in shock upon receiving the letter out of the blue. “She can ask me anything,” she said. “It’s an open book. God is good!”
She added, “Please tell her that there will be no question about this reunion.”
Barbara was delighted to receive the good news.
After I received Dorla’s signed and notarized authorization form on May 4, I released all of Barbara’s contact information to her. Following their phone contact, Barbara called me, saying that her birth mother sounded really “fun,” and that she felt like she’d known her all her life. Barbara and her husband planned to take a Mother’s Day trip from Northern to Southern California to visit her.
The reunion on Mother’s Day was perfect. After the visit, I received an update from both Barbara and Dorla. As Dorla put it, “Only a newborn baby could have topped this Mother’s Day, and, in a way, Barbara is a newborn to me!”
These two women will continue to explore their “newborn” relationship, rejoicing and thanking God for this blessed reunion.
