TheBanyanTree: Did I Ever Tell You

[Pam North]

about my brothers?!

Both of my parents were married prior to marrying each other.  My mom had my
sister, and my dad adopted her after they were married.  I came along the
next year, and my younger brother a few years after that.

But my dad and his first wife had two sons.  They were married very young,
and my dad was in the Army.  They spent a few years in Japan, the economy
there was great, and they got along swell.  But when they came back to the
states, they were in debt, my dad had a short temper, they argued a lot, and
then I guess my dad screwed around.  (The forms say 'unfaithful'.)  Not to
be topped though, his wife also screwed around, and then, just walked away,
leaving my dad with two little boys.

Did I mention that my dad was in the Army?  That he had a short temper?
Which sometimes caused him to come over desktops to punch whoever was
telling him things he didn't want to hear?  Even if that someone was an
officer or something?!  Oh yeah...  my dad was a great guy!   I have copies
of the carbons of the letters from him to the Vermont Children's Aid
Society, and those from them to him.  He wasn't getting full pay, whatever
*that* was back in 1958/1959, but he did try to send some money home from
the brig.  Yep, they sent him to jail!  My grandmother, Hazel, had the two
boys living with her.  But when she got ill, she and my dad had them placed
in a foster home.

Finally, my young and immature father, realized that he could not take care
of those boys and be the father he thought they needed, so he had them
placed for adoption.  In July, 1959, Charles Ernest James III and Robert
Michael James were adopted by a doctor, Alan C, and his wife Ann.  They also
had a little girl, Elizabeth, that they'd adopted also.

Charles became Fredarick Charles, and Robert became Thomas Campbell.  The
new parents were a nice church-going couple who enjoyed spending time with
their children.

Back in the mid-1980's, I wrote the Society and asked for information about
the 'boys'.  At the time, they couldn't tell me anything, except that they
could keep my info on file in case they came looking for me.  Great.

Then I tried again in 1999.  By then, they'd changed a few laws and they
were able to send me "non-identifying" information.  They gave me a brief
bio on the parents and what led to the adoption.  Then they sent me copies
of the typed forms they called an 'Adoption Study', that filled in the
blanks with names and dates and places.  With all the pertinent info whited
out of course!!

I know that their dates and places of birth.  I know that they were adopted
in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

And today, I am attempting to contact the Society again.  To see if any new
laws have been passed to grant me more information, and to make sure, again,
that they still have my information on file.

The oldest brother would be fifty now I think, and the younger would be 47
or 48.  Why would they bother now to look for somebody that they don't even
know exists?!?!  I just wish there was an easier way to find them...

Pam