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Hello, My name is Karen and I was adopted from Honduras. Just wanted to share with you how I found my family when i went there in 2000. I was able to search for them with only the information in my Adoption Papers. I Hope that i can go to Honduras to look for my Father who was from Tela and or near by city such as La Ceiba. Anyways email personally and maybe I am able to help by sharing my information with you: PM me Karen
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Hi. I am the adoptive mom of a 16-year-old who was born in La Ceiba. He is interested in trying to locate his birthmother. We have a name, although they told us she was not registered in the National Registry when we adopted 15 years ago. We just believed that, but it may not be true. Any advice would be most welcome.
All I have is my story on how I found my family. I will be happy to share that with you and anyone else who is looking for there birthfamily! email me at k4linar@yahoo.com
Here is a really neat story from this website:
[url]http://www.marrder.com/htw/2003aug/cultural.htm[/url]
Honduran adoptee meets with birth family after six-year search
Danny Jacobson found his birth family with the help of a television announcement
By PETER SIMON
Danny Jacobson is a well-educated, polite, 15-year-old boy from a middle-class, New Jersey family. He ranks among the top 3% of U.S. students in national exams, has had poetry printed in the papers, is a black belt in Karate, and was elected to participate as a student ambassador for his country on a recent trip to Europe. Danny has achieved a lot so far in his life, but had he not been adopted soon after his birth, it could have turned out very differently.
Danny was born to a family in Comayagela in 1988 at a time when his parents were separated. While his father worked in La Ceiba, his mother struggled to make ends meet, having to make and sell tortillas on the street right up until the point of his birth in a small hut; she didnt even have time to make it to hospital. Their financial situation, combined with the fact that they had already raised a large family, meant that giving up their new baby for adoption was the only viable option.
Danny Jacobson poses with his parents, Barry and Rena
Many adopted children don쒒t have access to information about their pre-adoption past, but Dannys parents, Barry and Rena Jacobson, were always open with him and provided help in finding out about his birth family. However, the company through which they adopted their son had a policy of keeping the childҒs background from them. When Dannys mind became inquisitive enough to want to know about his biological parents, the JacobsonҒs did everything possible to track them down. What followed was to become a remarkable story.
At the age of seven, Danny decided that he was ready to try to find out about his origins, but it wasnt going to be easy given the lack of information allowed to them. He even started taking Spanish lessons so he could communicate with his biological family should he ever meet them.
ғWe had very little information about Dannys birth family, so we knew it was going to be difficult,Ҕ explained Mr. Jacobson. But we did know the familyӒs name, so we started out by going through telephone directories and calling everyone with the same name.
This proved fruitless, and after three years, their search led them to a priest from Connecticut who had spent time as a missionary in Honduras. He was willing to help and got in touch with Francisco Quin, a contact of his whom worked as an attorney in Tegucigalpa. He agreed to put out a TV commercial with a photo of Danny as a baby.
ԓAfter six months we hadnt heard anything,Ҕ said Mr. Jacobson. We were grateful to the man in Honduras who put out the advertisement but thought that was the end of it.Ӕ
Time passed and Danny was losing hope of ever meeting his birth family. In October 1998, he sat watching images and reports of Hurricane Mitch sweeping through Honduras, causing mudslides and flooding never before seen in the country.
When I saw the reports on Mitch, I thought of my family in Honduras and I thought they would die. I was scared that I would never get to meet them,Ӕ Danny said, while speaking on his second visit to the country. I later learned that one of my relationӒs houses had fallen in a mudslide and my mother had to live on the streets for a while.
Three years later, in March 2000 Ԗ some six years after the search started Danny was sitting in his room doing his algebra homework when his mother came in and said there was as urgent call. His birth mother was at the end of the line waiting to speak to him.
֓I was in shock when I first took the call, recalled Danny. ԓI was so much in shock that I couldnt speak and didnҒt know what to say. We ended up speaking for about forty-five minutes though.
It became apparent that the television advertisements had continued to run longer than the Jacobson family had initially thought, as it was through this method that contact was eventually made.
ԓWe have never spoken to the gentleman who ran the advertisement and have no idea how long he ran it for, explained Mr. Jacobson, ԓbut thanks to him we were able to locate Dannys birth family.Ҕ
Dannys half sister, Sonia Carolina Flores, was called one night by a friend to tell her she had seen her name on Abriendo Brecha, a popular evening news program. She immediately contacted her mother and the program and it was not long before the Flores family confirmed that the boy in question was their son.
ғWe never realized that we would ever receive this great surprise, said DannyԒs birth mother, Sonia Lopez Aguilar, who was clearly moved by the chain of events.
It was not long before the two families started to arrange to meet. The Jacobson family sent photos of the teenage Danny to Honduras so that his birth parents had an idea of what he now looked like.
When I saw the photograph, I realized that he had grown up exactly how I had pictured him in my mind,Ӕ said Sonia Lopez.
The reunion at Toncontin airport, Tegucigalpa on February 14, 2001 was an emotional, overwhelming experience, and eighteen members of the Flores family turned out to welcome Danny. Much to his joy, he also realized that his birth father, Santos Samuel Flores, had returned to his wife and family since his adoption.
It was a very happy occasion and very emotional. My birth mother started crying as soon as she saw me,Ӕ explained Danny. Afterwards we drove straight to our hotel before driving to visit their house the next day. Seeing the city was such a different thing after having imagined it for so long. Their house is about the size of my living room in the U.S., and it is home to about ten people.Ӕ
Danny expressed his feelings during that time through poetry. The poem with this article, A Different Kind of Town, reflects what he saw during the first journey up the mountain as he drove to his Honduran familys house.
Many people might argue that 13 is too young for an adopted child to meet his birth family, but speaking on his second visit to Honduras, Danny shows maturity beyond his years when asked about his feelings on adoption.
ғSometimes I hear people saying that you cant love an adopted child in the same way,Ҕ said Danny. I think this is ignorant as through adoption, you can help other children who do not have parents. I wish more children were adopted as it would give them a chance in life.Ӕ
The decision to give Danny up for adoption was one that his biological mother found very difficult to make and at the time, she never thought she would see him again. The reunion reassured her that he was safe and had been taken in by a caring family.
I thank God that his parents are good people,Ӕ she said. We are very grateful of DannyӒs situation and the opportunity that his parents have given him in life and to track down his own past. I just never thought that he would return.
ԓThe hard part for my mother now is when he goes home again, said Sonia Carolina. ԓWhen he goes home again, it reminds her of letting go of him fifteen years ago. For her it is another separation.
She need not worry, as Danny already has firm intentions of returning every other year if possible. Furthermore, his parents have taken it upon themselves to do everything possible to help his biological family, which includes fifteen young nieces and nephews.
ԓThe first time we came here we bought loads of U.S.A. T-shirts and caps, explained Mr. Jacobson. ԓHowever, this time we thought it better to change the focus from entertainment to education so we bought a bag weighing 65 lbs. of second hand clothing as well as enough multivitamins to last the children a year.
This isnԒt all the Jacobson family is doing to help Dannys birth family. During their second visit to Honduras, they took many of DannyҒs nephews and nieces to local markets to buy them school clothes and shoes. They are also funding one of his nephews, Allan Ricardo Lopez, a young boy with a great academic potential, to attend technical college.
It is evident that Danny feels a great deal for his country of origin and already has philanthropic ideas of how he wants to help later in life.
In New Jersey a lot of people ask me where I am from,Ӕ he said. When I tell them IӒm from Honduras, they say its a country run by drug lords. This is so ignorant as America has this problem too.
ғWhen I am older I hope to be able to do something great like start some kind of foundation that will help Honduran people, Danny continued. ԓI would like to be able to do some volunteer work here at some point too, possibly Peace Corps.
During his most recent visit, Danny went to meet with Professor Concepcion Ferrufino, chairman of mathematics at the National Autonomous University of Honduras (UNAH). He also runs the ԓProgram for Rescuing Talent in Young People, a plan whose mission is to help underprivileged children reach their academic potential. A number of students who are helping with the program were also present.
ԓPeople like Danny are a great motivation for many Honduran children. He gives hope to a country where many do not or cannot study, said Professor Ferrufino.
Adoption in Honduras frequently receives negative coverage, and a letter published in last weekԒs Honduras This Week emphasizes this. However, it is important to realize that there is a positive side frequently struggling to make its voice heard.
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We adopted from Honduras in 1993. I have birthparent names and area living in La Ceiba. Does anyone know of anybody going to Honduras or in Honduras willing to look them up to get a picture and information for my 11 yr old daughter? Any suggestions?
Hi Teresa. I would be interested in your help. Please contact me, thanks
I can probably help find biological families in Honduras. Contact me.Teresa Andrews Searcy
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