When I started this work, I think I knew one adoptee. And when I got involved with this, it really blew my mind at how many people were either adopted or did not know who their fathers were. I started my own genealogy and researching. I knew who my parents were. I knew whom our grandparents were. I knew who my great-grandparents were, but I still needed to know more. I wanted to find information about my heritage and what these people did for a living, where they lived.

 

And so, for me to know that and still want to search, I can only imagine what it’s like for someone who’s an adoptee. There is a need to know who you are and where you came from. I believe that if you know who you are and where you came from, you know where you’re going, and it gives an identity to these adoptees.

 

So, the reward for me is great because I feel like I’m giving them part of their identity. And for them to speak to a biological relative for the first time or for them to see someone that they look like or hear the voice, I’ve actually been the voice of the first DNA match that some adoptees have ever heard, and that blows my mind.

 

And to be able to just give them maybe closure, it’s not always easy in every case because not every case ends up a wonderful story. But in every story, I feel like there is some understanding, some finding, something that they can grasp that helps them to maybe understand the story of why their situation happened.