He had no idea she existed, and she had never seen him, but she never lost hope of ever finding him. A beautiful story about the importance of knowing and feeling one’s roots.
When Catherine Benoit-Schwartz was a teenager, she found she was an adopted kid. Growing up with loving parents and three younger brothers, she had a good upbringing.
«I was approximately 14 years old when I started searching through family photos, wondering why I didn’t resemble any of my relatives.» My parents, who are wonderful people, did not duck the topic and informed me right away that they adopted me when I was a baby. Of course, I was interested in my biological parents.»
When parents adopt in the United States, they are typically given a birth certificate on which they are mentioned rather than the child’s biological father and mother. In the case of Catherine, however, the name of the biological mother was given on the paperwork for some reason, while the column «father» was marked as «Unknown.»
Catherine had an insatiable desire to visit her mother after she married for the first time at the age of 19 and became pregnant.
It was 1982, before Internet, and she had to sift through a stack of phone books. She found her grandparents, but there was no family reunion; they contacted her and told her that her mother didn’t want to meet her. That’s all there is to it.
The females were put off by the curt answer. But a few days later, her own aunt called, and I told her the story of her birth in total secrecy (it was frowned upon in their family to discuss Catherine).
Catherine’s mother gave birth to her out of wedlock in 1963, which caused the pious family great distress. By the time Catherine’s mother found she was pregnant, she had already split up with the father of the unborn child. Shortly after her birth, the daughter was placed for adoption. «I was surprised by the coldness of the maternal side.» I grew up to be a very active and good-natured person, and certainly, in my mother’s eyes, I failed. Perhaps my father is more like me?»
Catherine questioned her aunt about her father’s name, but she only had a rough idea. I believe his name was Casey Vandenberg, and he worked at a nearby hospital before leaving. And she had no clue where she was.
Catherine sought her father meticulously for the following 30 years.
Her preoccupation with locating her father infected even her children. They combed through phone directories on a regular basis, and with the introduction of the Internet, they checked search engines for a variety of spellings of the name and surname.
Catherine discovered Family Tree DNA, a genealogy research service that allows users to search for ancestors using their DNA, in 2015. She sent DNA samples to the service and awaited the findings. Two months later, she got word that a cousin had been located in England. «My soul sank into my heels when I saw her surname was Vandenberg.»
When she inquired whether the Englishwoman knew a certain Casey Vandenberg, she got the response, «Yes, this is my uncle from the USA.»
Finally, at the age of 82, Casey Vandenberg was enjoying the calm life of a retiree in Florida when his niece from England reached him. «It was shocking news. I didn’t believe it at first, but then I recalled the girl I was dating half a century ago. When I informed my wife, who was 53 at the time, that I may have a daughter, she practically choked on her lunch. It was a pretty amusing scene.»
Catherine’s half-brothers and sisters
Catherine and Casey corresponded over Skype and eventually met in person. «It was a surprise for both of us, but we immediately felt a bond.» We had no communication problems, no reservations, and we instantly started to call each other «dad» and «daughter.»
«Now that we’ve found each other, we’re like children reaching for sweets.» I am overjoyed that I did not give up after all these years.»