An adoption reunion 76-years in the making happened close to the Adoption STAR headquarters this weekend when 76-year-old Peter Yeager was reunited with two of his older brothers in Jamestown, NY.
According to the Jamestown Post-Journal, Peter was placed for adoption at birth after his mother died giving birth to him. The article said that Peter’s adoptive mother told him of his adoption at the age of 12, but his father never knew that he was told. Peter said in the article that while he had always wanted to find his biological family, he had a closed adoption and no way of finding any identifying information until recently.
“When I saw that my mother’s death date and my birth date were the same, I understood what had happened. With my advancing age, I wanted to see if I had family out there and be reconnected with them,” Yeager said in the article.
The article also said that the Neider children (there were eight of them) knew that they had a younger brother who was placed for adoption, but also did not know how to gather identifying information.
Finally, according to the article, the reunion was able to take place when Yeager and his wife moved to Elmira, where they met a friend who “dabbles in genealogy as a hobby.” Peter said that once he was finally able to find out his birth parents names, he gave this information to the friend who was able to find the Neider family online. After a few phone calls, the reunion took place at Peter’s older brothers(Charles) birthday. According to the article, the reunion consisted of brothers Peter, Charles and Bill. Four of Peter’s brothers and sisters have passed away, and two of his sisters live on the west coast and were unable to attend the reunion according to the article.
While this story has a happy ending, adoption reunions can be a difficult process and it is important to speak with all of your loved ones as well as an adoption professional before moving along with this process. It is important to discuss all of the possible outcomes of the search and reunion. Adoption STAR has a support group for adult adoptees (ACE) where adoptees can discuss all of their experiences.