Family Connections

2008-11-23T19:55:00.000-08:00

Any Longley family member who happen across this page (from the Groton MA line) come visit the family group at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=34724192366

2008-03-18T07:50:00.000-07:00

Good Morning to all

The latest edition of the VOA Newsletter just went out this morning.

Hope you enjoy it.

Gloria

2008-03-09T18:07:00.000-07:00

To all newsletter subscribers

I just got notice from my web host that the hard drives on his server seem to be dying. I have double backed up the site and won't be changing or adding to it for at least a week. The blog is fine as is the newsletter which will go out on time. This may be a reason for the slow addition of subscribers. Please help spread the word and let your friends know about the Voice of Adoptees newsletter. I still need a story for this issue so if you have one to share do so now. Send it to submissions@voiceofadoptees.com

Until next time,
Gloria

2008-02-20T08:31:00.000-08:00

Good morning to all

The first issue of Voice of Adoptees newsletter went out yesterday. I hope all who have subscribed have received it. If you have a chance, after reading it, to comment your feedback on it as a whole please do so as a comment to this post.

Going to work, will post soon.

Take care and have a great day.

Gloria

2008-02-06T06:57:00.000-08:00

Good Morning to all

The deadline for submissions to the Voice of Adoptees newsletter has passed and I am still in need of a story submission from an adoptee. So I will extend the submission date for a story to Fri Feb 8th. Get your stories in.

Yes, as I have said before - the only three things needed to successfully complete an adoption search for biological roots are faith, determination and persistence. To read such a story, just out less than an hour ago, go to
http://news.adoption.com/out/adopted-son-finds-his-family

till next time
Gloria

2008-01-30T07:43:00.000-08:00

Good morning to all

Reminder - Get your submissions in for the first issue of the Voice of Adoptees Newsletter. Deadline Feb 5th, first issue due out Feb 19th.

In the news
Have you heard of Dr. Jane Aaronson, the Orphan Doctor? Well for one she is a pediatrician and second she's from Brooklyn, NY where I am originally from too. She was interviewed by Babble magazine on her non-profit organization and specialization in pre/post adoption orphans.

Beginning her career as a pediatric AIDS specialist, she became interested in the health of children living in international orphanages.

When asked about age preference of children to be adopted, she noted the pros and cons of infant/toddler age versus the older child leaning heavily on the fact that the older child's personality can be seen whereas the infant is in the development stage.

Regarding attachment disorder effects observed in adoption she said, "Attachment disorder is likely more based on brain chemistry and brain damage." She explains further that "attachment likely has more to do with brain damage that occurs during the pregnancy, due to malnourishment, exposure to toxins in the environment, infections during the pregnancy, exposure to alcohol and drugs and smoking."

Aaronson, herself the mother of two adopted children (one from Ethiopia and one from Vietnam) is founder of Worldwide Orphans Foundation (http://wwo.org) and has a website at (http://OrphanDoctor.com).

2008-01-16T09:35:00.000-08:00

Call for Submissions - Voice of Adoptees Newsletter

Voice of Adoptees (VOA): the Newsletter that Gives Adoptees a Voice has arrived!

VOA is a monthly newsletter that will appear in Inboxes on the first Tuesday of each month. The first issue is due out on Feb 19th. Deadline for submissions to this issue is Feb 5th. In general, submissions are due on the first Tues of each month for consideration for that month's issue. Anything coming in beyond that will be considered for future editions.

VOA is seeking submissions from adoptees. Send your poems, stories, reunion news for the newsletter. See website to submit search tips, articles, and links.

To submit an article for consideration:
1. Send the article in the body of your email message or as a Word 2007 attachment to submissions@voiceofadoptees.com
2. In the subject line put Submissions - [title WC:]
3. You will get a byline automatically. If you want a five-line bio added, include one at the end of your article to save time.

Sign-up at
voiceofadoptees-subscribe@yahoogroups.com Pass it on to anyone you know who would be interested.

2008-01-04T07:12:00.000-08:00

Good morning to all

Hope you all enjoyed the New Year holiday and are all getting back to routine daily life.

I look forward to a year of growth in 2008. Stay tuned for a big announcement to come Jan 16th.

Till then
Gloria

2007-12-27T08:49:00.000-08:00

The winter holidays have come and gone and we now approach the new year. I wish all my readers a healthy, wealthy and successful one.

The official announcement everyone has been waiting for will be on the 16th, so stay tuned.

Regular postings will take effect after that date and will be on Wed. I have been trying to keep up with this and the project has proven to be a challenge.

2007-12-20T07:28:00.000-08:00

Sorry about not posting yesterday.

I am still floating on air from yesterday, as something wonderful happened to me in my writing career that I was just not able to type straight afterwards.

Here's the scoop. Got home from work and loaded my e-mail. I get a message from Holly McAllister at AuthorBound, a new division of Content Connection LLC. Anyway she offered me to join a select panel of reviewers to provide feedback for Jack Gilbert's upcoming book. Jack Gilbert, for those who don't know is a writer, presenter and consultant who focuses on leadership and organizational /personal integrity. I did it. It was all online in a series of questions. After I finished I was asked if I wanted to join as a member of the AuthorBound Advisory panel. Did I want to? I'd be out of my mind not to, so there it is, as of now I am an official member and hope to be getting book and proposal review and future online feedback survey requests from them.

Next week I'll be back with regular adoption related posts.
Till then, Happy Holidays and a Happy, Healthy New Year

Gloria Oren

2007-12-13T06:30:00.000-08:00

Bits and Pieces

Well, first off - the project I mentioned in my previous post is now about 60% finished. I'm not there yet but getting closer to the time of revealing it to all. Stay tune.

Just found this in our TV guide: Fri night, 12-21-07 CBS is hosting A Home for the Holidays, "the 9th annual concert raising awareness for adoption." In my part of town it will be shown at 8 pm PST. Check your TV listings for the show time in your neck of the woods.

Have you finished the holiday shopping frenzy yet? Either way you deserve some time to pick up your feet and relax. What better way that to watch a movie. Even better for last minute gifts consider a movie on adoption. Here are some suggestions"

Anne of Green Gables

Baby Business

Bachelor Mother

The Bad Seed

The Bigamist

Black Market Baby

Blossoms in the Dust (the Gladney story)

Border Line

A Child Lost Forever

Ca-bau-kan

The Divided Heart

There are lots more so check them out. For a whole list of options check out
http://www.adoptioncrossroads.org/AdoptionMovies.html.

Happy Holidays
Gloria

2007-12-06T08:53:00.000-08:00

Happy Chanukah, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year

and all other holiday greetings for this time of year.

Sorry I missed yesterday's posting.

I am busy working at getting a big thing unveiled to the adoptee community and am hoping to have it done before the end of January. This will be a great way to make friends amongst adoptees and share what it's like to be an adoptee with others.

Stay tuned as more news is on the way.

Until next time
Gloria

2007-11-28T07:24:00.000-08:00

Secrets - No Place in a Family and Especially in Adoption

I know what it feels like to be growing up in a place where secrets abound. I also know what it feels like when lies, even little white lies, are used as cover-ups. I grew up as an only child. My adoptive parents didn't want to tell me I was adopted, and probably wouldn't have if not for our teenage neighbor's prank. I won't tell you what the prank was, for that you'll have to read my book when it is published in the future, only that the way I found out was unusual and I was four years old at the time. That is when my adoptive mother opened up a bit and consented that I was adopted and swore me to secrecy about it.

Years later I discovered that it was mostly a secret for me, other neighbors, family members and family friends all knew the truth. I also knew that I was led to believe that their first child before me, who died from Leukemia, before I was even born was theirs and became ill with cancer due to their being first cousins. This is not so. He too was adopted and I'm pretty sure that had he not taken ill, he too would not have been told.

For years I lived in a secret world without knowing it. My medical records were based on what I knew, and what I knew was based on my adoptive family. I now know that this can lead to serious consequences. Back then, I was a child and didn't know this.

So my point with writing this post is a call to adoptive parents everywhere - there is no place for secrets. Even the youngest child has the capacity to understand if you tell him or her at his level of understanding. When children question about where they came from, tell them they were adopted. It may end there, or it may be followed with a request for clarification. Please don't tell them that they smiled at you so you chose them. Most babies smile at people, it is a natural instinct. Tell them the truth, whatever that may be.

It took me 37 years to learn where I came from and to start being able to put the pieces together. It doesn't have to be that way. I couldn't have asked for better parents either way so why cause further issues by resorting to secrets?

2007-11-21T06:21:00.000-08:00

Have you heard? U.S. to join the Hague Adoption Convention

November is turning out to be a month of positive steps in the right direction on the Adoption arena. Breaking news this morning from the Department of State announced that it will deposit the instrument of ratification on Dec. 12th and an official announcement of the Convention going into effect in the U.S. will take place April 1st.

What this means for children awaiting adoption around the world is protection against corrupt practices such as abduction, sale of or traffic of these children. It also means that the adoption triad members will be assured of accountability and ethical practices by those involved in the adoption practice.

2007-11-14T17:01:00.000-08:00

Adoptees Have Their Day! The Evan B Donaldson Adoption Institute release its white paper report this week.

The Evan B Donaldson Adoption Institute calls on all states to open up adoption records to adoptees.

November is National Adoption Awareness month. The non-profit research organization couldn't pick a better time to release a thirty-one page white paper based on an extensive study, calling for opening up access for all adoptees, in all states, to their records and original birth certificates.

As an adoptee who has searched and successfully reunited I know how much this would mean. Yet even if New York opened its adoption records I could only get the documents. My birth certificate was and will always remain a faked original. In the early 1950s several New York hospitals practiced what I'll call "under-the-table" adoptions. They would admit the birthmothers under the adoptive mother's name and complete the original birth certificates accordingly. One such hospital was Beth-El, then in Brooklyn, now nonexistent, where I was born.

Access to adoption records would restore the basic civil right to adoptees, that of knowing one's heritage, who we are and where we came from. It would give us back our roots. Accessing ones records doesn't necessarily mean reunion or barging in on a birthmother's current life. Besides when I searched I did a lot of reading. I knew that I might not find what I was looking for. Or that I might not find anyone alive or if alive the possibility that the other side wouldn't want to reconnect. I consider myself lucky. I was found and met my birthmother and maternal grandmother who died a few months later. My birthfather had passed away twelve years earlier, but I met a half-sister and have corresponded with three half-brothers and my birthfather's second wife.

I now know my paternal roots back eleven generations, of which eight or nine are quite filled out. Though this isn't so for many it is possible for some to follow up with some genealogical research and make interesting discoveries.

Besides, even the U.S. Surgeon's office's Family History Initiative claims knowledge of biological medical history to be especially worthy in "prevention, early diagnosis and treatment" in conditions such as heart disease, cancer, and mental health issues. I have heart disease. My paternal grandfather died from it. I'm a cancer survivor as is my birthmother. Both sides of the spectrum suffered from various kinds of cancer. My birthfather died from esophageal cancer. My adoptive parents kept my adoption so secretive that even my medical records contained misleading information based on their medical history. This is definitely unacceptable and could be very dangerous. I have since updated my records with the true facts as I now know them.

I can only see this paper's release as a great step in the right direction. I can only hope that change is coming, and coming soon. I wish all my fellow adoptees the civil right of knowing one's heritage and roots.

I'd like to hear your feedback so please leave me a comment.
Till next time,
Gloria

2006-12-07T16:14:00.000-08:00

Maternal birth family surnames:
BERMAN (or BIERMAN), DEVENISHKIJ, DEVNOVSCH, SCHUSTER (CHILDREN CHANGED TO FRITZ), KOHN, ROSS

3rd great grandparents:
unknown DENVENISHKIJ and unknown DEVNOVSCH
Moishe UNKNOWN and Leah Golde UNKNOWN

Great great grandparents:
Zolmon SCHUSTER and Eshie UNKNOWN
unknown and unknown

Great grandparents:
Jacob (Schuster) FRITZ and Kate (KOHN)
John ROSS and Ruchel-Baile (BERMAN or BIERMAN)

Grandparents:
Joseph (Schuster) FRITZ and Aida ROSS
Wilfred Laurier LONGLEY and Dorothy Leona (LAURILLIARD)

Birth mother: Marcia Katherine FRITZ
Birth father: Malcolm Darrell LONGLEY

The next post will be my genealogical research of my husband's family

Till next time
Gloria

2006-12-07T07:27:00.000-08:00

Welcome!

I will post messages relating to my findings in my genealogical heritage quest of my roots.

Today I would like to post the surnames that I am searching for in each of my different families.

Paternal birth father's family:
BEAL, BEALS, BENT, DODGE, GOFFE, KENT, LAURILLIARD, LOKER, LONGLEY, PARKER, PEARSON, PEASE, PRESCOTT, SABEAN, SAWTELL, SHADWIN

12th great grandparents:
Edward LONGLEY and Ann (unknown)
unknown

11th great grandparents:
Edward LONGLEY and unknown
unknown

10th great grandparents:
Edmund LONGLEY and unknown
unknown

9th great grandparents:
John LONGLEY and Anne (PEARSON)
unknown

8th great grandparents:
William LONGLEY and Joanna (GOFFE)
unknown

7th great grandparents:
William LONGLEY and Lydia (PEASE)
Jonas PRESCOTT and Mary (LOKER)

6th great grandparents:
John LONGLEY and Sarah (PRESCOTT)
Joseph PARKER and Abigail (SAWTELL)

5th great grandparents:
Wiliam LONGLEY II and Mary (PARKER)
Isaac KENT and Rachel (BEAL)

4th great grandparents:
Israel LONGLEY and Anna (KENT)
Stephen DODGE and Blanche (SHADWIN)

3rd great grandparents:
Isaac LONGLEY and Freelove (DODGE)
Arod BEALS and Catherine (DeLONG)

Great great grandparents:
Isaac LONGLEY and Catherine (BEALS)
unknown

Great grandparents:
Isaac Avery LONGLEY and Annie (SABEAN)
unknown

Grandparents:
Wilfred Laurier LONGLEY and Dorothy Leona (LAURILLIARD)

Birth father: Malcolm Darrell LONGLEY
Birth mother: Marcia Katherine FRITZ

Note* They were not married.

Maternal birth mother's family:

To be continued.

Gloria