I have to say that any digging, no matter how slight, into my adoptive past is usually done with an equal mixture of interest and dread. I have often thought about the White Shield home, imagining it as something along the lines of a dark, awful orphanage (think Jane Eyre). I imagined strict, nun-like disapproval of the young girls and women who found themselves pregnant and in need of a place like White Shield. However, I just finished reading your story about your visit, and it has eased a burden on my heart that I have carried for my birth mother.
Archive for the ‘Children of White Shield’ Category
Ease My Heart
Posted in 1960's, Children of White Shield, tagged adoptee, adoption, birth mother, first mother, Salvation Army, White Shield on May 12, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Checking In
Posted in 1960's, Children of White Shield, Mothers of White Shield, Reunions, tagged adoptee, adoption, adoption history, adoptive parent, birth mother, first mother, Mother's Day, Salvation Army, White Shield on May 8, 2010 | 1 Comment »
Tomorrow is Mother’s Day – for adoptee, first parent, and adoptive parent alike, a day that stirs up a complex stew of emotions. It is also, coincidentally, my first mother’s birthday, and with that in mind, I thought it appropriate to share with you a little window into my own story – a portion of [...]
Looking for Martena
Posted in 1940's, Children of White Shield, Searchers on April 17, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Stephen F. ~ 40.100416 I am trying to locate Martena Esther Jones (my birth mother) or my surviving siblings. I was born in the White Shield Home of Portland, OR on October 25, 1940, and my birth name was Philip Stephen Jones. At that time, Martena’s residence was listed as 305 E. 18, Salem, OR. [...]
Meet Me for Lunch
Posted in 1970's, Children of White Shield, Mothers of White Shield, Reunions on February 1, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Kym P. ~ 79.100130 This is a picture of myself [left, standing] and my daughter Amanda (who I relinquished at birth in April 1979) with her adoptive parents [standing], and my mother.
Cod Liver Oil & Orange Juice
Posted in 1930's, Children of White Shield, Returning to White Shield, tagged Salvation Army, White Shield on October 18, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
J.S.Z. ~ 30.091018 I believe I was kept at the Home longer than any other: I stayed there until I was 17 months old. Why I was never adopted out I will never know, but I stayed there in that nursery for nearly a year and a half; until my birth-family finally took me home. [...]
Salvation
Posted in 1960's, Children of White Shield, Returning to White Shield, tagged adoptee, adoption, Portland, Salvation Army, White Shield on February 8, 2007 | Leave a Comment »
63.070208 I’ve lived in the Portland area all my life and I know my way around this town. I grew up on the eastside in the Roseway neighborhood, went to college on the Bluff above the St. John’s slough, and then moved westside to the suburbs in my early twenty’s; in the last four decades, [...]
Our Stories
If the path of your life passed through the doors of the White Shield Home, as mine did, you have a story to tell. Whether you were a birth-mother or a White Shield child, a Guild member or a social worker – your story is the story of White Shield.
Read our stories.
Then tell yours.-
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