My Nonprofit Reviews

I'm a Cradle baby, I was adopted in 1953. I see that their philosophy hasn't changed. They always choose parents for the baby, not a baby for the parents. My parents, now deceased, were amazing. The Cradle did a fantastic job with finding great parents for me. My adoption was closed. Back in 53, the cradle didn't tell the adopted parents anything about the birth parent which meant, they didn't have to lie to me when I'd ask questions about my birth mom. When my brother, (also a cradle baby from different biological parents than mine) and I were 14, we wanted to visit the Cradle. My social worker was still there. I got to see the nursery and the office where I waited in a cradle, for my new mom and dad.
When I was in the Army and about to be shipped to Saigon, I decided I wanted to get information about my biological mom. To be honest, I wanted to tell her "Thank you" for being so selfless. Unfortunately, the three page letter I got from the Cradle about my birth mom was completely false. When I was 45, I hired a searcher to find my birth mom. It was an amazing story... we both obviously, were born and raised in Illinois.. when I found her, she lived 2 hours from me, in Texas. My adopted parents always assumed I was probably Norwegian because of my complexion, hair color, eye color.. etc., yet all my life, I was drawn to anything having to do with Native American culture, spirituality, art.. When I met my birth mom, I found out that both her parents were 100% Iroquois Indian. Obviously genes do play a big part of who we are. I had another issue, the reason for searching for my birth mom. I'm gay. My adopted mom had issues with this... she loved me, don't get me wrong, but she didn't understand my life style. To be honest, I had issues accepting myself. I couldn't figure out how I could have chosen to be something that I never knew anything about. Homosexuality was never discussed, I never encountered it.. so how did I become gay. When I told my birth mom I was gay, she said it didn't surprise her..two of her sisters were also gay. It proved to me that homosexuality is indeed genetic, not a choice as so many people accused me of doing. I will always be indebted to the Cradle for finding the best parents for me. Before you judge my adopted mom for having issues with my sexual preference..remember, I was born in 1953, before being gay was "fashionable".