One of the impacts of adoption can be a separation of siblings. The struggles of a mother to keep and raise her child are temporary in nature – though it may not seem that way at the time.
I believe my dad’s mom did her best to keep him but in the end, The Salvation Army’s approach did not support her intention. She gave birth to my dad in one of their homes for unwed mothers having discovered herself pregnant due to an affair with a married man much older than her. Therefore, she did not even seek his assistance but in her very self-sufficient way dealt with her circumstances alone.
After a period of time bonding with her son, she was released with him with the expectation that she would be able to live with a cousin geographically nearby. I think she found little patience there. She applied for a job with The Salvation Army and was accepted and transferred, still with my dad in tow, from San Diego California to El Paso Texas.
By the time he was 8 months old, my dad was legally the ward of The Salvation Army. My granny went there for a child to raise (after my dad was adopted, she went there for another child to be his brother). I don’t know what it cost her but maybe less than some of the other options.
My dad never seemed much interested in his original family. He was actually adopted twice when my granny had to throw the abusive alcoholic she had been married to out for the well being of her sons and then met and married a different man. My dad was devoted to them and supported them genuinely as they aged.
Unknown to my dad at the time he died, a half-sister was living 90 miles away that could have told him a lot about his mother, his other older sister and a brother. I find it sad but that was the reality.
Missing Mom 