A man has been left “giggling like a schoolboy” after his biological parents managed to track him down after 56 long years.
The man, who was adopted as a baby, grew up in Eastern Canada with a loving family so never looked for his birth parents. But this all changed when he was given a DNA test one Christmas, intended to learn more about his family history.
Speaking on his behalf, his 22-year-old son told a Reddit forum: “All he had from his birth parents was a letter which told him he was born out of love, but they could not support him when he was born.
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“So when my sister decided to get him a genetic test for Christmas, it was to find out what ethnicity we all are and the thought of finding his birth parents didn’t even cross our minds. Eventually, when we got his results, we were surprised to find the names of two people with perfect genetic matches to my dad.”
He wrote each of his parents an email and calmly waited for their response. He added: “Almost immediately, his biological dad, who I’ll call Jim (not his real name), responded! He said how excited and happy he was to have found my dad and how he had been looking for him for so long.
“My dad, who is usually an emotionally reserved man, was curled up on the couch grinning as he was texting Jim for the first time. I was still in shock from the news, but was so happy to see my dad even happier than when I graduated uni. Soon thereafter, he also received a message from his biological mum, Debby (not her real name). By talking to them both, my dad learned the story of his birth.”
The man found out his biological grandfather moved from Australia to Canada during the 1960s and the family ended up moving to the Midwest, where Debby met Jim at age 17. “They were high school sweethearts and were thinking of marriage after they graduated, but then Debby got pregnant.
“Her dad was furious and sent her back to Canada to give birth and arranged a private adoption. Once she gave birth, she was able to let Jim know that she was being sent back to Australia. They never saw each other again for the next forty years.”
Both Debby and Jim eventually married other people. Jim and his wife had no children but Debby went on to have three daughters. “They [Debby and Jim] saw each other for the first time around 12 years ago, as they reconnected on Facebook and Debby happened to be taking a trip to the West Coast of America.”
The man revealed that both Debby and Jim had wanted to keep their baby and had spent years searching for him. However, the province where their child was raised “apparently is one of the hardest places in the world to find adoption information,” they wrote.
Eventually, the parents gave up until genetic tests became popular. “He [Jim] asked Debby to take every single one, and he did the same, about five years ago, hoping that one day my dad would take one. When he received my dad’s message, he immediately wrote to Debby: ‘I found him.'”.
Now, Jim and his wife maintain regular contact with his biological son and his family, who are the couple’s only blood relatives. The poster and his father are even planning a visit to Jim, although plans with Debby are still pending as she resides in Australia. They expressed their excitement at discovering they have three new aunts and five younger cousins.