Judy’s Story – “For 55 long years there has been a giant hole in my heart. That hole is filled! I’m complete!”

Judy’s Story – “For 55 long years there has been a giant hole in my heart. That hole is filled! I’m complete!”

I have searched for my daughter for decades to no avail ever since that horrible day when she was taken from me by deceit as a little toddler.  I was just 16 years old when she was born and, after I refused to relinquish her when she was born, she was placed in Foster Care while I worked to get a home ready for her. Tragically, one day when I was visiting her a social worker gave me a supposedly “routine foster care visitation form” to sign to make it easy for me to visit her. Well, unbeknownst to me, that routine visitation form turned out to be a legal relinquishment form and, without my knowledge or consent, my baby was spirited away from me and placed in adoption.    

I cannot even begin to describe the terrible heartache I have carried with me every day since then. Over the years, I have searched and searched for her but to no avail. But it was only when my doctor gave me my Cancer diagnosis and I began Chemo Treatment that I knew that if I was ever going to find her it would have to be now.

I was told about John’s Family Orchard from my sister and her husband. At first I thought it would be just another organization like I had unsuccessfully used in the past. Another attempt like the many, many before l had tried with only continued heartache as a result.

I was so very wrong! From the first time I spoke to John I felt a real spark of hope. His sense of confidence was contagious. He listened and understood the pain that had been forever hidden in my heart. He knew the right questions to ask. He didn’t waste one moment getting started and kept me informed all the way. I didn’t have to sit wondering all the while. 

When the call from John came saying ” I found her”, he too was filled with joy. I sobbed but he understood. 

My beautiful daughter and I have now spoken, and God willing, she will soon be in my arms agains. 

For 55 long years there has been a giant hole in my heart. That hole is filled! I’m complete! None of this would have been possible without John Suggs, his compassion, his expertise and steadfastness. Meeting him was a true blessing!

Thank you! 

Judy J

Inverness, Florida


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LAW ENFORCEMENT: DNA DOESN’T LIE

LAW ENFORCEMENT: DNA DOESN’T LIE

Hi. I am John F. Suggs and my expertise is in genetic analysis, forensic research and investigation in the field of genetic genealogy where I assist “persons of unknown parentage” such as: adult adoptees, sperm and egg donor’s adult children and others searching for their biological roots. In addition, using the same investigative methods, I have recently expanded my services to include assisting members of Law Enforcement in the solving of criminal cold cases.

DNA Testing and Analysis is an exciting and rapidly evolving field.

Back in the Spring of 2002 when I submitted my New York University Masters Thesis entitled: “Genetic Testing and Privacy: The Role of Anonymous Genetic Testing and Information Technology”, I wish I could say that, in it, I successfully predicted the utter transformation DNA Testing would shortly have on so many aspects of our society. But I didn’t.

Since the first groundbreaking commercial autosomal DNA testing for genealogy was introduced by 23andMe in 2009, the dramatic growth and explosion in this field has been nothing short of astounding. At this point, we are able to reach back 7 generations on both parental lines. The results are connecting us with literally hundreds of hundreds of millions of people long passed and are proving critical in solving even some of the most difficult cases.

In 2018 another major tectonic shift happened. That spring it was revealed that, for the very first time, law enforcement had successfully used these same unknown parentage search techniques along with the public DNA database GEDmatch to identify and arrest the (alleged) Golden State Killer. In the ensuing months and years, more and more cold cases have been successfully solved the same way.

I believe that this moment in time is going to be recognized to be just as significant in the field of law enforcement as the original establishment of two way communication systems in police vehicles. Remember before the “squad car radio”, police had to “report in” using Police Call Boxes on the streets.

Going forward, it is now going to become virtually common practice for law enforcement organizations to use the very skills and techniques that our field has painstakingly developed and mastered in our searches for birth families of adult adoptee and other persons of unknown parentage to solve not only criminal cold cases but “real time” cases.

Over it the years, adult adoptees and their searchers had no choice but to develop these critical skills and techniques precisely because their adoption files and original birth certificates have historically been sealed by the courts. And now, it is that very same legal system, which for decades has routinely denied them their original identity and birth records, that is now turning to our fields unknown parentage methods and tools to solve both long standing cold cases and “real time” cases.

These cutting edge issues of DNA analysis are transforming not only law enforcement and the adoption world but our entire society. Remember: DNA Doesn’t Lie.

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With his guidance I found my birth father.

With his guidance I found my birth father.

I could not move on with my life. I have a successful career and have grown up in a nice family with loving parents. But I have not married and I do not have children. This is no accident and I knew that my past, the unknown, was keeping me from moving on.

Family Orchard was referred to me by a legal source in the adoption community. I admit I had this card for over a year before I used it. And it is funny that some things really do happen timely.

Mr. Suggs, the founder of Family Orchard, was efficient, supportive, and has a sensitivity and wisdom that was reassuring. Honestly, they were traits I rarely have found in someone outside the adoption triad. I felt understood!

His interesting and impressive background makes him beyond equipped to do this kind of work. My adoption journey has been an emotional and frustrating one, a journey of regret and of lost love found again. Mr. Suggs was patient and sensitive along the way and has provided insight that only a professional could.

When others had failed, when I had tried and backed down so many times and for so many reasons (excuses), Mr. Suggs gently led me down a path I was afraid to travel alone. And it was so worth it! With his guidance, I found my birth father. Because you will learn, once you start working with Mr. Suggs, he won’t take the credit. It has been my search: my journey.

We discussed community resources, books, and documentaries. He opened up a door I had long forgotten I closed! And I remembered a time when I was more involved in the adoption community and utilized resources. It was a refreshing reminder that this journey doesn’t have to be done alone; there are always ways to self-growth and ways to connect to others if you want it!

It has taken ten years but I found both my biological parents and reunited them with each other. (And it is quite a story.) What this reunion may turn into is still unknown. For me, the search was never about a relationship, although this has been a nice residual effect. My adoption journey has been about finding truths and about letting go, letting go of the past, letting go of regret, and letting go of the burden of wonder.

The most surprising feeling I still have is empowerment. I set a goal and it wasn’t easy but I did it. I did it! AND YOU CAN TOO. The time is now.

Family Orchard is a resource you can trust. It is a professional service that will deliver. Words cannot express my gratitude.

Thank you.

Kathryn S.
Hartford, CT

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91-Year-Old Mystery Solved

91-Year-Old Mystery Solved

John did the seemingly impossible. He solved a 91-year-old family mystery and successfully found my birth grandmother’s next of kin – an 85-year-old nephew – who was able to finally tell us about my birth grandmother who would have been 111 years old if she had still been alive!

When it was finally solved, John shared with me that my family’s case was the hardest case he has ever tackled. He ended up working on it for over 9 years. Overall those long years, he showed a remarkable resiliency and dedication to both my mother and me. He faithfully and regularly checked in with us, giving us search status reports even when there was nothing new he had to report and he never, ever gave up.

My mother is now 91 years old and ailing. She does not have a lot of time left and we had begun to believe that we would never find out what happened to her Birth Mother after all these years. John always understood how important it was for me that we find the answers about her birth mother before she passes on. And John did it! I was able to share the news of his discovery with my mom was just a week before her 91st Birthday.

We were both in shock. All we ever knew was that my mom had been abandoned by her birth mom at 3 months old in 1923 and was raised by her birth father and paternal birth grandparents. Since there was no formal relinquishment of parental rights or adoption involved there were no legal records for us to attempt to access. The only thing I ever had was the name of my Grandmother. Nothing else. And, unfortunately, it was a fairly common name.

The “official story” told by her father and paternal grandmother was that one morning, she simply got up, said that she couldn’t do this anymore and walked out on her baby and husband and never looked back. As you might imagine after being told this, my mom has lived her whole life angry at her mother for abandoning her and with very little desire to find out whatever happened to her as a result. She simply believed the story and never felt the need to know anymore. It was my sister and me who always felt that there was more to this story than she was told. There simply had to be. And, thanks to John, we now know that my mom’s father and her paternal grandmother had repeatedly lied to her about the circumstances of her mothers leaving.

I first approached John over 9 years ago and asked him for his help. After years of painstakingly considering and then eliminating virtually every other person who had a similar name and who was alive at the same time and who had ever lived in the large metropolitan area where my mom was born, basically going down one dead end after another, John finally found and spoke to my birth grandmother’s 85 year old nephew – her “next-of-kin”.

This nephew confirmed that my birth grandmother was his Aunt but even more importantly he told us that back in 1923 – before he was even born but just months after my mom was born – his Aunt suddenly and mysteriously disappeared. Both my birth grandmother’s younger brother (his father) and my birth grandmother’s father had filed missing persons report with the police and had spent years searching for her but to no avail. They eventually and regretfully came to the conclusion that she must have met with foul play. For there had never been any “falling out” between them and it was the only logical reason why she would have disappeared without a trace.

After John shared this news with me, I drove over to my mom’s and shared it with her. At first, she couldn’t wrap her mind around it. All her life she had believed what she had been told – that her birth mother had simply just walked away – abandoning her – never once coming back or attempting to contact her.

Thanks to John finding her next-of-kin, we now know that she not only left my mom as a 3-month-old baby and her husband but, at the same time, she also went missing from her own family. If she had just walked away from a bad marriage and/or was suffering from post-partum depression following the birth of her baby daughter – like we always thought – then her family would most likely still have known what had become of her. But she disappeared at the exact same time from her own parents and brother as well. And they spent years trying to find out what had happened to her.

So my 91-year-old mom now knows, for the very first time in her life, that she was not abandoned by her birth mother but, instead, that her birth mother was taken from her just as she was taken from her own family. And she knows that her mother’s family had searched and grieved for her.

I have since spoken at length to my newly found 85-year-old cousin and have delighted in getting to know him and learning more about that side of my family. I suspect that we will never know the specific circumstances of her death but the fact that she did die is now beyond doubt.

I understood when John told me, at the end of this long search, that it has been the most difficult case he has ever undertaken. Because she disappeared at the young age of 20 she never left much of a record or trail behind for any of us to be able to follow. The fact that he eventually managed to find her 83-year-old nephew still alive and who could verify the story of her disappearance – when virtually everyone else involved were long gone – well, it is nothing short of miraculous.

I can’t say enough good things about John. He is absolutely tenacious in his efforts. He never gave up and he always, faithfully, kept in touch with us over the years. Even when he had no news to share – he would check in. I can’t recommend him any higher than this: Should you find yourself in the midst of a difficult family search John Suggs is the person you want to have in your corner.

Thank you, John! You gave my mother the most priceless gift anyone could have ever given her. You gave her back to her mother.

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