Rachel's Daily Diary

 

_________________
Thursday
1 February 2001

11 52 pm pst   [ quiet evening at home ]

I'll be at my mother's the next week or so. We spent the evening together, eating her vegetable soup and talking. I brought all of my genealogical research over to show her. I went through her father's papers again. I found a letter my mom wrote her dad when she left home to live in California permanently, and I found a list of dates that my grandmother was institutionalized. I'm going to see if it's possible to get any of her medical records, which my mother is very interested in. I think my best bet is to look into the research done by adoptees trying to find records of their past.

I had a friend in high school who was adopted. As his senior project, he set about to track down his birth mother. It took him quite some time, and the more involved he got the more he had invested. At the end of the year he was able to visit her grave. I know what a disappointment that was to him. He did get to meet an uncle, his birth mother's brother, but not his birth mom. There was no record of his birth father.

I've asked Matthew several times about being adopted. He has no interest in knowing his birth parents -- a stark contrast to my obsession with my family tree. I've asked him what he would do if his birth parents wanted to know him, or if he had biological siblings that wanted to know him. He's willing to accommodate them, but seems to have no interest himself beyond his medical history. I believe his lack of interest is simply and ardent loyalty to the people who raised him, and I can't really see anything wrong with that...

Notes to self:

    Metropolitan State Hospital
    http://www.dmh.cahwnet.gov/statehospitals/metropolitan/
    Archives Room in the Staff Library
    main number: (562) 863-7011
    Human Resources Department (562) 651-2231
    Office of Central Program Services (562) 651-4311
    11401 Bloomfiled Avenue
    Norwalk, CA 90650
    DMH: http://www.dmh.cahwnet.gov/

    Saint Michael's Hospital Stevens Point
    http://www.saintmichaelshospital.org/
    St Michael Hospital
    2400 W Villard Ave
    Milwaukee, WI 53209
    (414) 527-8000

    Mercy in Oshkosh:
    http://www.affinity.org/
    MERCY MEDICAL CENTER
    631 HAZEL STREET
    OSHKOSH, WI 54901-4680

    The American Hospital Directory:
    http://ahd.tool.net/list.php3?mstate=wi

    Madison, Wisconsin Hospitals:
    http://www.insiders.com/madison/main-healthcare2.htm

    West Milwaukee Area Hospitals:
    http://www.discoverhometown.com/ compaper/milwwest/hospital_milwwest.htm
    http://www.relocationcentral.com/directory/us/wi/
    milwaukee/health_care/hospitals_and_clinics.html

    Milwaukee County Mental Health
    9455 W Watertown Plank Rd
    Milwaukee, WI 53226
    (414) 257-6995

    Milwaukee Psychiatric Hospital
    1220 Dewey Ave
    Milwaukee, WI 53213
    (414) 454-6600

 

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