In late 1953 or early 1954, a young woman was sent to Los Angeles from Arizona. She was 24, Catholic, Hispanic, had a certificate in teaching, was an accomplished pianist – and was single. She was sent to Los Angeles either to stay with family in Los Angeles or go to a home for unwed mothers and on April 22, 1954, she gave birth to a healthy baby girl at St. Anne’s Hospital. That child was me, signed over for adoption and sent to a foster home until I could be adopted.
Talking about myself isn’t my strong suit, but the past 5-6 years have been a journey of self-discovery that culminates tonight. My wife and daughter are probably holding their breath, hoping I stay on script. My sister-in-law might be hoping for a little embarrassment to justify the drive here. My wife questioned whether I would read, memorize, or speak from the heart. Well, we’re all about to find out.
Peter Dobbins, featured in our 2021 Gratitude Report with his parents, is now a Junior at Pasadena High School. Last fall, Peter participated in the school’s production of Dracula.
It doesn’t take long to fall in love. I remember meeting with our social worker in July of 2006 to sign final paperwork just before we would meet our daughter for the first time. William, my husband, asked about health concerns, and what our options were if there were anything inherited. We had been waiting years for this day and his question caught me off-guard. After further discussion and understanding this concern, we concluded the paperwork.
After military service in Germany (1960–1963), I traveled from New York City to California with a stop in Chicago to visit relatives. It was while in Chicago that I met Marilyn, and three years later, in 1966, we were married in California in a non-denominational church, although Marilyn was Catholic and came from a large…
On May 23, 2024, HFS will celebrate seventy-five years of creating forever families. It’s an amazing accomplishment, and a testament to the agency’s resilience, that HFS has continuously provided high-quality adoption services to birth parents and adoptive parents for almost eight decades. HFS’s origin story began when Dr. George Piness, then associated with St. Anne’s…
HFS is responsible by law to physically keep adoption files on paper for 99 years. Since the agency has been around since 1949, that means it “still has” every adoption file that has come through its doors! Files are stored at a special storage facility that facilitates file transfers by request. These files include hospital…