Michael Shea drove to Catholic Charities in Bridgeport Connecticut, it was March 6, 2018, and he was there to meet his birth mother.
Michael Shea’s parents told him at a young age that he was adopted. Now, after turning 18 he was legally allowed to meet his birth mother.
Through Catholic Charities, Shea filled out a form that allowed him to contact Joanna, his biological mother. The woman who was there at the time of his adoption would also be there at the reunion. The woman handled all of the paperwork for Shea.
“It was crazy, very surreal. I drove to the wrong place at first,” Shea said.
Shea was in line to meet the woman who gave him up for adoption 18 years earlier.
“I’m super nervous, breathing heavy and there are six people in line in front of me,” said Shea.
As he stood there, he heard someone say, “Wait, Joanna,” to woman from the front of the line who began to turn around.
Shea realized at that point the woman turning around was his birth mother.
“We made eye contact and paused, and I said ‘Joanna, I think I’m your son,’ Shea said.
Both Joanna and Shea were hugging each other and crying when a woman working at Catholic Charities came over and separated them.
Joanna was taken by the woman to a separate room and came back to tell Shea that she had wanted their meeting to happen in a private setting.
“When they brought Joanna to the back room and I was there alone in line, I was freaking out, like what just happened,” Shea said.
After a few minutes of waiting, Shea joined his birth mother in the back room.
When Shea walked back to the room Joanna was still crying.
Joanna then gave details of her life and his birth.
The families lived in Peru but moved to America for medical treatments when Joanna’s father was diagnosed with cancer. Joanna didn’t know she was pregnant with Shea when she came to the U.S.
After she gave birth to Shea she said she had to put him up for adoption so she could take care of her father. A year after, her father died.
Two and a half years later, Joanna’s mother also was diagnosed with cancer and died.
She told Shea some details about his birth father and his siblings.
Shea’s biological father is half Peruvian and half Italian. While his father lives in Peru, he has two half-brothers that live with Joanna in the U.S.
His birth mother told him soon after her own mother died, she gave birth to Shea’s half-brother, Giovanni who is now 17. Joanna also had another son, Nick, who is now 9.
Shea, after meeting Joanna, now keeps in contact with Joanna and his half-brothers and plays video games and soccer with the boys. Joanna, Giovanni, and Nick live 40 minutes away from Shea’s home where he lives with his family.
Shea is planning to celebrate holidays with both his family and his biological family.
“We had a barbeque over the summer at Joanna’s house and my adoptive parents came too, they’re very supportive of me meeting my birth family,” Shea said.
Joanna gave Shea her father’s ring to pass it down into the family and she also gave him the contact information for his biological father who lives in Peru still.
Shea has been in contact with his biological father through WhatsApp, an app that allows people to text and call across continents for no additional charge. He has been using Google Translate in order to communicate with him.
Shea plans to visit his biological father this summer and wants to meet another half-brother he has who lives in Peru with his father.
Shea said the day he met his birth mother Joanna was beautiful and sunny, “the day we originally planned to meet ended up being terrible, rainy weather, two days later. I couldn’t have been happier with how that day went.”
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