Open adoption records and some free online people search sites helped an adult adoptee find his birth mother 45 years after he was given up for adoption.
Brent Reichert, 45, from Tallmadge, Ohio, was able to find a phone number for his birth mother after obtaining his Ohio adoption records and searching for her name on White Pages, Google and Classmates.
Linda Wilson grew up in St. Petersburg, Florida. In 1970, she was just 16 years old when she found out that she was pregnant. She managed to hide her pregnancy from her family and friends for quite awhile. However, after 7 months Linda finally told her parents about it.
The family decided that Linda would go to live with her brother in Ohio until after the baby was born. On May 9th, 1971, Linda gave birth to a baby boy at Kettering Memorial Hospital in Kettering, Ohio.
After Brent’s birth, Linda Wilson went back to Florida and finished high school. After graduating from high school, Linda got married, and her last name changed to Palm.
Within a few weeks of being born, Brent was adopted by Samuel and Gloria Reichert, and grew up in Brunswick, Ohio as Brent Reichert. While growing up, Brent’s adopted parents let him know that he was adopted and that his birth mother loved him, but she had to give him up.
Eventually, Brent got married and had two children of his own. Throughout his life he wondered about his birth mother as well as his family medical history, but he never made an effort to search for his birth parents.
In March 2015, Ohio opened up their adoption records to adult adoptees. A year later, Brent decided it was time to find out more about his biological family and obtained a copy of his birth certificate.
Brent’s birth certificate showed that his mother was Linda Lee Wilson from St. Petersburg, Florida, but his father’s name was not recorded on the certificate. After several online searches using White Pages, Google and Classmates, Brent was able to find out that his birth mother’s married name was Linda Palm, and that she was living in Gulfport, Florida. His search also revealed a possible phone number for her.
After some hesitation and delay, Brent finally decided to call Linda Palm to find out if she was person listed as his mother on his birth certificate.
Linda was at home on April 24th, 2016 when she received the phone call from Brent. In a phone call that lasted over 3 hours, Linda confirmed that she was his birth mother. Linda told Brent the circumstances and reasons regarding her decision to give him up for adoption, while Brent recounted his life growing up in Ohio with his loving adopted parents.
In July 2016, Brent traveled to Florida with his wife and children to meet Linda and her husband and daughter. Linda and Brent were happily reunited after four and a half decades thanks to Ohio’s open adoption records law and some free people search sites.