Several historical factors fed the trend. Advances in reliable birth control, like the Pill, and the availability of legal abortion reduced the number of unwanted babies. In the wake of the sexual revolution, women who had children out of wedlock faced less contempt, and single parenting became more socially accepted. Many birth mothers used their newfound leverage to demand greater openness in adoption. The practice of open adoption and that of search and reunion fed one another.
Some adoptees now regard knowledge of their ancestry as a civil right.
In this changed atmosphere, Kingdon and Stephanie were reunited in 1990 after each contacted authorities in Sacramento County, where they had parted ways 27 years earlier. As Kingdon had hoped, Stephanie had grown up in a loving home. She knows that searches like hers do not have guaranteed happy endings. Calif. His stories have appeared in The New Physician and The San Jose Mercury News . All rights reserved.