I was born March 23, 1978. In Corsican, Texas. The story was always told was my birth mother gave me up after she gave birth to me in the hospital. Then I was sent a foster home in Fort Worth, Texas. I was adopted at 2 months. My adopted family was from North Branch, Minnesota. They are a white and I am black. They went through Catholic Charities in St. Paul, Minnesota. The adoption was legal. They decided to have the adoption be closed which meant that I would not know anything about my birth family. Because it was legally a closed adoption, my birth certificate is blacked out where my birth mother’s information would be and my adopted parents names were typed in there. The only information I have on there is where I was born and the year of my birth. My adopted parents had adopted 2 boys before me in which they are not biological. We are all 4years apart. In 1978 it was on heard of for a white couple to adopt children of color. As matter of fact my birth certificate says my race is colored. I equate that to because I was born in the South. I moved with my family several different times throughout my life because of my dads career. I feel very blessed to have been given the chance to be with a family they wanted me but at 15 I was curious to know more about my birth mother. My adopted mother gave me a letter that my birth mother wrote to me. I can’t tell you how many times I read it. I remember it saying her height was 5.6, she loved to dance, and went to church. She had me at 20. No mention of a father. She said in the letter that she was living with her mother and could not afford to have me and my older sister. Her mother made her choose between keeping me or getting rid of me. She thought that since she didn’t know me, it would be easier to give me away. That story made sense to me. I never was angry at her for it because I never judge people I their decisions. I went years without knowing who these people were. I always wanted to know if I looked liked them or acted like them because no one else looked like me in my family and I felt like I was from another planet most of the time. I also have a learning disability, foot issue, anxiety, and now have come to grips with having adhd. So that is also why I felt like I was different. Very misunderstood. In 2010 my adoptive mother past away from cancer and I found some files about my adoption. For the first time I found an envelope that was had my name on it. I was nervous to read it. My husband encouraged me to take it and read it. I had promised my mom when she was alive that I would not try to find them because when i kept asking about my mother I noticed it made her sad. I remember feeling so excited when I read that letter my birth mother write describing who she was because I was 5’6 and liked to dance. I thought finally I make sense! But my adopted mom was not excited at all. She cried and thought I didn’t move her anymore. That saddened me so I never mentioned it. So when I found that envelope, I felt guilty looking at it even though my birth mom was gone. I read it weeks later with my husband next to me. There was hospital papers which had details about my birth, my mom giving me away to a nurse right after she gave birth. It talked about my weight, height and that my mother was with her mother but no man. There was certain parts of it blanked out as if to not mention her name. but my husband spotted in the hospital papers Baby Mathis. That’s when I figured out that was me. I couldn’t believe it. Still stuck I had no name off this birth mother. It did mention her birth date. That didn’t really help. I tried to look up the hospital to see if I could contact anyone but the hospital was not listed online. So again I let it go. Until in 2918 I lost my step daughter to a violent incident and at a vigil met a young man who claimed he was related to my husband. Long story short, I ended up talking to him about adoption because he said that is how he found out about being related to my husband through a DNA test. I asked him how he did that and he mentioned Ancestry DNA. He said it worked! I said there is no way because my adoption was closed. It makes it very difficult to find anything out. He said anything is possible. If you have any information ancestry can find it. I said all I have is a last name, year of my birth, hers, and birth place. He said tell me what it is and I will look it up. If you have a membership you can find out more and I have one. I thought this kid was giving me BS! I texted him the info and thought I would never hear anything. But in a matter of 2 hours he inboxed me with info. He gave me my bio moms name, sister, and then told me I had 2 younger brothers. I couldn’t believe it. I had no idea about brothers. In shock I went on Facebook and searched each one of they’re names.
I found my sister and sent her an instant message. No reply but she really didn’t look much like me. I did sent my youngest brother a message no reply. But then found a woman who was in a pic with my brother and sent her a message. I sent my other brother a message with no response. Just when I was about to give up, my youngest brothers wife replied back and said that he had been looking for me for years. I couldn’t believe it! I was able to face time him then and there. I saw some resemblance. They kept saying i looked like my mother. Eventually I was connected to her via phone. I have met cousins on her side, my sister, other brother all on phone. I have not met them in person because I live in south bend Indiana and have no money to travel there and they don’t have money to get here. The novelty of me being this miss placed sister/ daughter has worn off since I was not able to see them in person so they really don’t call much anymore. I have tried to get there 2 different times well failed attempts because of financial issues. My birth mother is now almost 70 and I fear I will never see her in person.