Kathleen O’Shea is over the moon after reuniting with her birth father. The 26-year-old took her fiancé and their children to meet her biological father, Kenneth R. DeJordy, and his fiancée. They talked about how crazy the similarities between them were. They often caught the other staring. Kathleen said the new relationship is more than she ever could have hoped for. DeJordy said, “Once our eyes met I knew right away she was mine.”
He learned of her on September 14, and they met three days later. O’Shea was told she has a half-brother, Garrett, who is 21. She had a half-brother, Kenneth Jr., who was killed in a motorcycle accident last year. The driver responsible was unlicensed and legally blind. He is currently facing charges.
O’Shea was abandoned at Bay State Medical Center when she was just ten days old. Her only possessions were a yellow blanket and a bottle of milk. DeJordy was 21 when he dated her mother briefly, but was never told about the pregnancy. The baby was adopted at three months old. She had a happy, full life with her adoptive parents.
About a year ago Kathleen decided to start searching for her birth family. She initially contacted the police department that handled her case, but memories were poor and the records were few. She just wanted to know what happened and obtain medical history.
O’Shea decided to make a search post on Facebook. She added some news clips from when she was found, and a message for her birth mother: “Now that I’m a mother, & have a wonderful family of my own, I truly understand the heartache & decisions you must have gone through. I don’t resent you, or hate you, or hold anything against you,” it read. She has since talked about how it must have taken courage to leave her there because there were no Safe Haven laws in place in 1991.
A woman in the comments section referred her to Foundling Finders, a group geared at helping those who were abandoned find their family. She shared her information there and was contacted by CeCe Moore, genetic genealogist and founder of DNA Detectives. Moore found Kathleen’s biological mother. The woman asked not to be contacted again. O’Shea was discouraged but decided to press on. When DeJordy was located he was surprised and thankful. Having just lost his son, he viewed her arrival as a gift. O’Shea is excited and looking to the future. She can’t wait to integrate her 3-year-old son and 5-month-old daughter into her newly found family.
