Anne’s Adoption Story
Let me start at the beginning — my beginning. I was five weeks old in November 1977 when my parents adopted me from an agency in Evanston, Illinois, called The Cradle. My parents talk fondly of getting “The Call” and rushing to pick me up. I’m glad they didn’t think it was a Halloween prank […]
Tony’s Birth Family Search: 76 Years Later, Filling in the Family Tree
Cradle baby Tony was not interested in finding his birth family initially. After his mother’s death and encouragement from his daughters, Tony reached out to The Cradle to help him with his search. John Anthony “Tony” Studds came to The Cradle as a newborn in 1937 and grew up in a wonderful family. His father, […]
Jalissa’s Adoption Story: Reuniting With Her Birth Family
Jalissa and her aunt share how The Cradle support nurtured their connection. Watch Jalissa, Miss Black USA 2011 talk about her open adoption and build a relationship with her birth family after experiencing tragedy. Jalissa discusses her adoption story and her connection with her birth family. For 100 years and counting, The Cradle has built […]
An International Adoption Reunion Story
Hear how one Cradle adoptee’s search for their birth mother ended in a trip to reunite with a birth sibling across the Atlantic. The following was written just prior to November 1, 2005, as I was planning to fly across the Atlantic to England to meet my birth sister for the very first time. At […]
Bethany’s Adoption Reunion Story
All things are relative, or so the saying goes. A good friend, whose children call me aunt, once said to me “There is the family we are born to and the family we choose — we choose you.” Not uncommon is the notion of adopting friends and calling them family. But when you actually are […]
A Multi-Generational Family of Cradle Adoptees: The Crannell Family’s Story
When Chuck Crannell adopted his son Casey from The Cradle, he learned that his own history as a Cradle adoptee factored into Casey’s birth parents’ decision. When Patricia and Kenneth C. Crannell Sr. started exploring adoption in their home state of Massachusetts nearly six decades ago, it didn’t go so well at first. “My dad […]
