My Journey through My adoption,by Joann Lee Sideratos aka Joanne Popowick.
As most people read this article they will probley think"she should be happy with what she has"?The answear is"i am " however deep in my heart ,all my life there was something eating at me and I needed to know.
I am an adoptee,I''ve known since I was 6 years old,I knew i had a mom and dad who loved me,I had a good home,grew up in Bay Shore,ny and faced crulity to it's utmost hurt.I had some friends,not many who knew and excepted me for what a was and some people used the all famouse word"bastard" but I knew I knew I was better then most kids.My parents were foster parents,they had their own daughter,there was Kathy Dahl who lived with them ,she was a foster child as well but My fete3rnial twin and I came along September 14,1967.
I am apart of a triplet,breech birth,my sister and I survived but the other child didn't,all my life I felt she or he was alive and was adopted first,my parents always told me"she or he died at birth,if she or he lived we would of taken all three of you".So begun my quest to have answears.My parents didn't know alot,they only knew what the New York Foundling told them"we were triplets,my mother married a greek man to keep him in the United States,their last name was Sideratos"and thats all they ever knew,for many yrs i blocked out the last name only remembering the "s".
My parents loved us very much,never once when i started to search for who I was or where did I fit in did I ever wnat to hurt them or my sister,My sister was mad when she found out but it wasn't about her,it was about me.I never resented my parens ever,they gave us a good home,education,love and taught us right from wrong,we never got hooked up in drugs or with the wrong crowd,we were good kids.
Then in 1992 it was time to open up that pandora boxs and start searching,many adoptees in america want their origanial birth certificates and medical records however the state of ny issues an amendd birth certificate with the adoptive parents names on it,the only thing that never changes is the numbers on top,as for medical,adoption agencies tend to hide the facts and won't even tell an adoptive parents what the medical history is,so adoptees go through life with problems or popped up medical issues and can't answear the questions a doctor asks because they just don't know.
This past year after yrs of fighting with New York Foundling,I finally demanded my backround imformation on my Birth Mother and demanded my medical records because my sister is sick with sarcoidios,I finally got some better backround and imformation.I already knew i was apart of 11 kids,2 died one premi and one at birth.
My birthmothers name was Gloria Mary Schenk aka Gloria Sideratos,she was born in northeast ny{possiblie the bronx} March 11,1931.She had a 8th grade education and had severe mental illness,in 1952 she was voluntaryly hospitalized and released in 1953,she had sciophrenic-hebephrenic type,although it was recommended to institutionaliz her,her parents refused,she wa sknown for prostition and vagrancy by the courts along with a false arrest in 1965.My birthmother complained of insomnia,an over active thyroid and cadica condition which she never had treatedmshe spoke of having her tubes tied and hysterectomy.She married the man she named as my father Edward Sideratos in 1957 however he was deported in 1961,this makes it impossible for him to be even remotly my birthfather.
The secrets were coming out,as I dug deeper i found out I was the baby of 11 kids,when you tell people"oh my Birthmother had 11 kids they are in shock",just think how I reacted.My birthmother used alis names as well,she did work now and then,facory,sales,housekeeper and bartender.My grandfather was german decent,my grandmother irish,my grnadmother died in 1933 of a skin disease in the sarcodios family,my grandfather remarried in 1936 to another irish woman who adopte dmy birthmother and my birthmother and her sister lived with them.My uncle was hrut at age 7,my birthmother never really knew and at 16 the stepmother arranged for a family priest to tell her,my birthmother blamed herself for my grandmothers death.
As for my siblings,in order,a daughter born in 1951 died premi,a son possible name william born in 1953-54 adopted by my grandfather and his wife,my brother was never told he was adopted,he never was told my birthmother was his mother not sister,he thought they were his parents,another son diffrent bf born 1954-55 adopte din 1957,a ssiter ,diffrent bf born in 1956 adopted in 1961,another son with the same first name as the eldest son was born in 1957 he was adopte dby my aunt{bm's sister} in the south,another daughter born possible full sibling,1958 adoped ,another sister{carol anne} 1959 adopted 1964,carol anne was found in 2002 with the help of a searcher and carol knew most imfo she also lived 10 mins from me all my life in west babylon while i lived in bay shore, we just never knew.
New York Foundlng handled all of our adoptions,my birthmother had to give us up,she couldn't care for us,we werebrought to Ny Foundling June 19,1967,i contacted chicken poxs and pink eye,my feternial twin sister went to a foster home before me,i contacted chicken poxs june 30,1967,my birthmother last saw me june 28,1967 and it made me upset,we were baptised june 21,1967 it was registered with st. vincents ferrer catholic church.My sister and I were reunited September 14,1967 at the Popowick home in Bay Shore NY,the home we remine din until adoption by them April 12,1973.My birthmothers last contact with my foundling was July 27,1967,she lived in a motel{sherman square motel in lower manhattan ,ny room 636}a fire happened and she had trouble feednga nd carng for twins,welfare was slow,she did talk about bringing us home but adoption seemed best,it was unclear if she ever told my grnadfather and his wife about us and never asked for help.My grnadfathers name was supossiblie william joseph schenk born in 1903 of german heritage.
I do not blame my mother,I never was angery with her,i assumed as a child "she was a young mother who couldn't care for wo babies"never did I think she was in her mid 30's and had already now had 11 babies,two dead,I was surpised to say the least.My wnated to find my siblings is because one,I want them to know I never stopped looking,two because i wnat to know they had a good home and were loved and three my twin sister is sick and they have the right to know medical history but most of all to give them hugs and tell them I love them and find out about them and they could know their baby sister never stopped searching.
So,If my siblings ever see this,they will know I made a promise to God at age ten to fnd out answears and it was never made in vain and I've kept my word.I believe in the power of hope and faith,somewhere they cross roads and you may hit bumps but you do eventually find the answears,somewhere theres a kind hearted person who will help you and sometimes you do it all on your own,thats just life for now,i have been doing it all on my own for 26 yrs now,asking,pleading and begging,i did get some answears but now it's time for closure and peace.