Woman who knew for decades that she had siblings in America, and kept a promise not to make contact, finally meets them
A Llandrindod Wells woman who has known for over 40 years that she had a brother and sister in America, and kept a promise for 20 years not to make contact, has finally met them.
Jude Boutle located her birth parents in America and contacted them in 1997.
After realising her contact was not really welcome she wanted to contact her brother and sister but her birth parents begged her not to as they had kept their first child a secret from the rest of their family.
Jude’s adoptive parents were wonderfully generous people who put aside their grief of losing two children to adopt and give love to her brother Dave and her but Jude had always had a deep need to understand where she came from.
When she went away to college in 1980 she applied to access her adoption records without the risk of upsetting her loving adoptive parents.
Her journey led to 40 years of rejection and heartache before she eventually found joy and a sense of belonging this year.
Jude’s birth father was 25 and an American in the US Air Force stationed in Oxfordshire where he met her birth mother, then 21.
Jude was born in October 1961, then placed with an adoption society before her birth parents went to live in America where they married and soon had a son Royce and the following year, a daughter Micci.
“It was sort of good to know they had stayed together but it made being given up for adoption harder to understand.” said Jude.
