Adults who were placed in adoptive families in infancy through LDS Family Services (and similar placement agencies) can be difficult for birthparents to track down. Thirty years ago, adoptions were nearly always closed and sealed, often making it very difficult for parties to locate each other. Thankfully, LDSFS placements have moved to a much higher degree of openess in recent years, allowing birthchildren and birthparents easier reconnection, should they choose.

Today I came across a wonderful article in the June 2006 edition of The Ensign which tells a lovely story of an adoptee being located by her first grandparents, and of her subsequent reunion with her birthmother. Enjoy. :)

A Greater Love
by Eve Burch

An unusual telephone call changed the course of my life.

I don’t remember when my parents first told me I was adopted. It was just part of who I was—like my blue eyes and my love of music. My father always made it sound like something wonderful. He said he and my mother had especially chosen me, while other parents had to take what they were given. As I grew, I knew that my parents, to whom I had been sealed in the Idaho Falls Idaho Temple, were the parents I was supposed to have. My love for my family members grew each day, and I knew that no matter what my bloodline was, they were truly my family.

Yet during my teenage years, I often thought that someday I would like to find the woman who had given birth to me. I was curious about the circumstances surrounding my birth, and, most of all, I wanted to thank my birth mother for what she had done for me. Although I did not fully comprehend the complexities of the decision she had made, I did know that placing a child for adoption was not a popular choice. I was incredibly grateful that my birth mother had chosen to give me something she could not provide herself—an eternal family with both a mother and a father to love and care for me.
The year 1992 turned out to be very eventful for me. I married my sweetheart in the Las Vegas Nevada Temple in May. I will be eternally grateful that my father was able to attend our wedding, because that was the last time I saw him. We lost him unexpectedly six weeks later due to a heart attack and associated complications. It took me awhile to adjust to the addition of one man to my life and the loss of another. But Heavenly Father always knows when we are ready to grow through trials and challenges.

continued