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Adoptees Share Reunion Stories after Ohio Unseals Records

After years of work by advocates for adoptees, the state of Ohio last year  unsealed the records on 400-thousand people who were adopted between 1964 and 1996.  Now, those adoptees can request and receive their original birth certificate, important medical records and in many cases discover their birth mother's name. But finding the name is just the start.  For many adoptees, the birth records represent the first step in a long and emotional journey that reconnects them to not only mothers, but brothers, sisters and other family members they never knew they had.  For others, reunion remains elusive. And for others still, that's a part of their life they don't want to explore.

Betsie Norris, Executive Director, Adoption Network Cleveland 
Kay Williams, Reunited Adoptee, Cleveland Heights  
Tamara Green, Reunited Adoptee, Weirton, W. Virginia 

 

Resources:

Adoption Network Cleveland web site

Hear More About Kendra Proctor's story:   TRUE CLE

Leigh Barr is a coordinating producer for the "Sound of Ideas" and the "Sound of Ideas Reporters Roundtable."