9 years after the initial application

I received a phone call from Post Adoption Services in August 2002 saying that my time for the family search had come and asking if I wished to continue. Definitely! A month later I received a call stating that they had been in contact with my birth-family and that my birth-mother had passed away. Due to the nature of the current laws, they could not continue with the search, however there was significant information in my file that my birth-mother requested be communicated to me. This information included the following – to be confirmed:

• I am the descendant of John McCrae who wrote “In Flanders Fields”. He lived 1872 to 1918.
• James Watt was the great uncle (grandparent’s brother?) of my birth mother’s maternal grandmother- Her mother’s grandmother was the daughter (if I wrote this down) of the Laird of Schielgs in Abberdeenshire in Scotland.
• There are other relatives with notes of distinction in Canada- My mother did not have a good relationship with her ex-husband.
• She was ahead of her time, and had serveral university degrees- She rose to the top of the health care profession, was the head dietician of many hospitals in Canada, and at the time of my birth in Newfoundland
• Did research in a number of areas including mental handicaps, spinal injuries and dietary needs. Most of which is in use today.
• She went in MANY different directions – gee sounds like me. 😉
• She was in the Royal Canadian Air Force for a while
• All of her family was in BC at the time of my birth, except for her kids. It’s likely they didn’t know about me.
• The two twin boys were in grade 4 (10 years old), and the daughter was 3 years old at the time of my birth. So now 38 and 31
• She had a common last name because Judy, my social worker, called 15 different people in BC with the same name to find her.

However, all was not lost. The government in Newfounland was considering updating their antiquated laws inline with international standards. The update laws were passed on April 30th, 2003 allowing Vital Statistics to release original birth certificates and adoption orders. However, there was a one-year veto period for birth families to place veto and no-contact orders. However, those of us wanting to apply to get our original papers could do so but It wouldn’t be until June 2004 that I would receive my original details.