It's a holiday miracle: users of the popular nerd hive Reddit tracked down an adoptee's birth parents in a matter of hours. They also found and skeezed over his biological sister's topless pictures. Awkward.I confess, I don't even know what Reddit is -- I barely get twitter and facebook! But this story is another reminder that technology means that secrecy doesn't exist anymore, so why bother to keep adoptions closed and secret.
Yesterday afternoon, Littleton, Colorado, Reddit user -steezy_wunda_bred- posted his cry for help on the Denver section of the site.
"So I'm looking for my birth family after nearly 24 years," he wrote. "My birthday is coming up this Tuesday and it always reminds me of my past, so I figured I'd do something about it."
He posted an old picture of his birth parents (above) and some basic details, including their first names and the ages they were when he was born. He knew his biological father played in a punk band in Littleton and that his mother Michelle worked at a local restaurant.
Less than five hours later, a user named Syllabelle had used the information and some impressive Google-fu to track down what appears to be Steezy's family. She posted a link to an adoption registry where a Littleton woman whose information matched his mother was looking for a son born on the same date he was. Sweet success.
Adoption Initiative Conference 2022
2 years ago
6 comments:
"Technology means that secrets don't exist anymore, so why bother to keep adoptions closed and secret."
Malinda, I completely agree with your conclusion. In today's brave new world, the question seems to be not 'if' connection can be made, but 'how' and 'when.'
But until the laws are changed, sometimes luck does not favor the searcher. As it is now, too much is left to chance, despite the Internet.
You're right. To promise "secrecy" would essentially mean an adoptee could never leave their house, talk to another person, use the computer, or go to the library. We bump into original relatives everywhere without knowing it! I vacationed annually not 15 minutes from my original family and had no clue. I was also a "fan" of some of the same Facebook pages as they were. We even share favorite vaction spots despite living in opposite areas of the country. You cannot promise secrecy in a planet so small and certainly not one where people can be found and reached within seconds due to increasing technology.
ps. I don't know what Reddit is either lol. But I cringe when people use the phrase "track down." It makes it sound like a derranged adoptee is hunting for something lol.
""Technology means that secrets don't exist anymore, so why bother to keep adoptions closed and secret." Quite so.
It doesn't restore the original birth certificate to adopted persons though. Only legislative reform can do that.
Attending a denver family counseling can help them prepare before adoption.
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