We knew nothing about the agency. My gynecologist hadrecommended it, after I lost my 5th pregnancy.

I was already 35 and did not want to wait the few years adoption through other agencies might take. To be honest, we never checked Easter House out before hand. We were just thrilled we had found a place that indicated they could place a child with us fairly soon. Since my dr. had also recommended it, we thought it was ok.

I guess my first warning sign went off when I was in the lawyer's office to sign the papers to legalize the adoption. (His name, by the way, was Thomas Hanrahan. I wrote to him requesting info since he had handled the paperwork on the adoption, but my letter was returned 'no such person was at that address.' I recently saw in a Chicago phone book, a 'Thomas Hanrahan, Esq, Jr.'. I would say that is probably the other guy's son but that would not mean he has dad's old records).

The warning sign came when I was handed my daughter's birth certificate. I never had any intentions of telling my child anything but the truth.  That she was adopted and loved and wanted very much and the answer to my prayers and dreams. (I also always told her that her birth mom loved her very much too and I knew that because, even though I never met her, she had obviously tried very hard to keep her but just could not make it work. I was told her birthmother was only 16).  The birth certificate the lawyer handed me listed my name as the birth mother, giving birth in Chicago and my husband as the father.  I had told the agency beforehand that I intended to change the baby's name because I had wanted to know if I had to legally change it in Chicago first or just take care of that when we reached New Jersey.

The birth certificate I was handed already had the "new name" on it, much to my surprise. I just  stared at the certificate for the longest time and I guess the lawyer knew what was on my mind cause he asked me if everything was alright. I did not want him to take the baby away from me that I had just been given, but I did have to ask him if this was normal procedure: to have my name on a certificate as though I had actually come all the way to Chicago to give birth. (Why?)

He replied that some parents 'prefer to have it that way' so it is a "service" they provide.(I assumed he meant that some folks prefer never to tell their child they were adopted.) I muttered something about how I had never asked for that "service" and always planned on telling my child the truth and it was kind of creepy to have a phony birth certificate but he said, rather defensively, it was not phony: it was legally changed.  I never quite got how they coud legally change a document like a birth certificate and does that mean that there really is no other birth cerficate in existence on record somewhere in Chicago with the right set of names on it???

I did call Easter House a few times to try to find out information on my daughter's birth parents. I am sure it will come as no surprise to you that I was told, "We don't keep that information here; it is stored in another building and when somebody goes out that way again, we'll see it we can find anything and get back to you."  They never have.  All I was ever actually told about my daugher was the age of the birth mom (16) and her ethnic background: Irish and English and that she still lived at home with her parents where the baby had been for the 8 mo of her life (no foster homes) and the biological mom and dad were never married: he had left no forwarding address. His ethnic background was Italian and he was "older"-in his 20's.

No names were ever given and no health information. (With my vivid imagination, I always pictured this poor girl trying to keep her baby, waiting for this boy to come back to her who never came to share the load.) I was also told the same social worker who had interviewed me had worked with the baby's mom and thought we looked remarkably alike.

Of course, I was never shown a picture of the birth mom to know whether that was true or not but my daughter does have my color eyes and hair (blonde hair, brown eyes) The only reason I know the baby's "real" name is because I began reading a paper on the lawyer's desk when he walked out of the room.

My daughter does not understand why there is so much trouble locating her birth parents because she hears stories all the time about other people locating their familys.  Maybe, if nothing else, your site will make her realize how difficult it is to find out anything about anyone from Easter House. 

By the way, one time I was reading a book from the library on adoption-don't remember the name, but it mentioned Seymour Kurtz-Easter House owner-and it did pretty much indicate he was a crooked lawyer. He was even arrested once for some kind of crooked ring smuggling cars out of Guatemala or something really weird like that.  

I am happy you emailed me and I wish us all good luck. If you have any ideas how I can continue to look on my daughter's behalf, please let me know. I have always worried that my daughter could be hurt by what she found. I had a good friend who did find her birth mom but the woman did not want to be found because she had never told anyone about her life/child that she had before. I always felt it was my job to protect my daughter but now that she is 24, I suppose she can fight her own battes and I know that she would like to know.