Documents

My father's Decree of Adoption, dated 23 January 1935. This is all we know about my father's history and family prior to that date. He was not given up for adoption but abandoned or orphaned by his parents.  His adoption was consequential to that event.


 

The two 3x5 index cards obtained from the Sunbeam Home (now operating as Sunbeam Family Services) around 1990. These cards appear to be all the records the ageny has about my father. The top card says his mother's name was "Oral" (not "Opal" as indicated in the Decree of Adoption) which is more commonly a man's name. Each card spells his last name differently, suggesting that the agency did not know the proper spelling. Also, the bottom card indicates he arrived at the orphanage in 1934, only a year before being adopted by one of the orphanage's house mothers.

The State of Oklahoma did not begin recording adoptions until 1939. Paul was adopted in 1934. Oklahoma guards the privacy of parents who give their chidren up for adoption closely, as they should. However, my father's adoption was subsequent to being abandoned by his parents, who made no formal request to remain private. For children who have been either abandoned or orphaned, especially during the social tumult of the 1930s, the state should be more open about providing records.