(Author note: Since first publishing this article in July 2017, I have updated my research on Crittenton General Hospital, my birthplace. See my essay Crittenton General Hospital’s Forgotten Legacy Serving Single Mothers and Promoting Adoption in Michigan, published in March 2019.)
One of the unexpected outcomes of the American adoption experience is how the stigma of illegitimacy and out-of-wedlock pregnancy created a virtual cloak of invisibility around the birth of adoptees and their presence in the general population. That shame and stain of illegitimacy lives on in the form of laws that discriminate against adoptees who are denied the human right to their birth records and equal treatment under the law.
Crittenton General Hospital of Detroit is shown on Jan. 24, 1974, in this photo from the Detroit Free Press, two months before its closure. I was born here, as were thousands of other babies who were placed for adoption. (Click on the photo to see a larger image.)
I was born at Detroit’s Crittenton General Hospital, one of the nation’s largest maternity hospitals that served unwed mothers and ultimately where thousands of infants were relinquished into the adoption system. The facility opened at Tuxedo and Woodrow Wilson in 1929, at a time when Crittenton homes and hospitals served the needs of “problem girls” and gave them a place to give birth and bond and stay with their children.
By the late 1940s, the Florence Crittenton Mission, later Florence Crittenton Association of America, had transformed its maternity homes and hospitals into temporary residences for thousands of single moms, who gave up their children at these facilities across the country. The infants today sometimes call themselves Crittenton babies, and I am one of an uncounted group who today still face legal discrimination accessing their birth records.
The photo seen here was taken on Jan. 24, 1974, two months before the hospital closed permanently on March 22, 1974. The building was demolished a year later. It closed due to financial strains, the decline of adoptions, and the gradual economic decay of Detroit.The story in the Detroit Free Press that accompanied this photo that I bought failed to mention the hospital’s historic role serving unwed mothers and then relinquishing those infants to new families.
The story from Jan. 24, 1974, in the Detroit Free Press, makes no mention of the hospital’s pivotal role delivering thousands of infants like me for adoption. (Click on the image to see a larger picture of the text copy.)
I was one of those infants, born about a decade before this picture. This journalistic oversight was not accidental—it fits into a larger pattern of hiding adoption from the public and erasing the story of adoptees from American history.
In 1967, the Crittenton General Hospital opened a new facility in Rochester, Michigan, in the suburbs, and became a general hospital that did not serve single birth moms and their children like all previous Crittenton missions and maternity homes. The two operated under the same names, but only the Rochester facility remains, still bearing the Crittenton name. Nationally, it is a name tied forever to the service of single, pregnant women, and later adoption.
Today, the Crittenton Hospital Medical Center in Rochester also has whitewashed its past and does not acknowledge who it once served, how that hospital helped to hide illegitimacy from the public, and its pivotal role transferring babies from a birth mothers to adoptive parents during the boom adoption years after World War II, through 1975.
The stigma surrounding illegitimacy drove the institution of U.S. adoption in the decades after the war and helped turn it into one of the largest social engineering experiments ever in U.S. history. That stigma is deeply woven into how state laws impact birth parents and adoptees today.
The new hospital in Rochester claims, after many efforts to contact its communications team in 2016, that it has no records of the number of adoptee births at the Crittenton General Hospital in Detroit—its predecessor. The hospital spokesperson did not return multiple calls and repeated emails for interviews and records. The only two documents the hospital shared were photocopies of short institutional histories, which did not outline the hospital’s important historic role as way station for birth mothers and adoptees. The summary documents did not offer a count of patients served or babies delivered by single mothers.
There are no records of the number of adoptee births kept by the National Crittenton Foundation, the mission’s successor group now located in Portland, Oregon. The official repository of all National Florence Crittenton Mission records, at the University of Minnesota Library, also did not have any documents that showed how many babies were born in Crittenton General Hospital in Detroit or in the multiple maternity homes in the city that opened first in 1900.
From a public health standpoint, it is practically scandalous that we still, to this day, have no accurate record of the number of adoptees who were relinquished in the United States. The U.S. Census in its last two counts failed to account for all adoptees in the way it counted adoptees and foster children, which missed entire generations of adults like me. The lack of data ultimately undercounts adoptees, and thus undermines their efforts to restore adoptees’ rights to receive copies of their original birth records in most states, where they are denied access unlike all non-adoptees.
I was born there in 1963 in place in f foster care
I was born there in 1954 and like others, I suppose, was unable to get any records from them. I believe i have an original birth certificate that I received as a fluke. I now wonder, (1) who named the children, (2) were names slightly changed, and (3) were birthdates slightly changed.
An original vital record should: show the name of the hospital of birth, the name of the attending physician, and names (if known) of the mother and father. I do not know what a 1954 original birth certificate looks like. I’ve posted a redacted version of my 1965 certificate (released after being withheld for 27 years) that shows both my delivering ob-gyn and the name of the hospital. (This image was taken down due to likely document fraudsters trying to steal it overseas.) Amended birth certificates should not list either. Also, mothers name the child. An original vital record should have truthful information.
It is an original. I no longer have it in my possession but can get it. I was at Crittenton for 10 days then Methodist Children’s Village for 3 months prior to placement with awesome parents. Father was unknown on birth cert.
Thank you for the info, it was helpful
I have one from that hospital from 1956. I was born there. I was not an adoptee though
I was born there too in 1952. My mom was not a single parent. I wonder what percentage of the hospital was for unwed mothers?
Please see my article explaining what I have been able to find from extemely limited resources on this critically important facility in the history of U.S. adoption and Detroit. https://www.howluckyuare.com/crittenton-general-hospitals-forgotten-legacy/
I was born there too my mother and father name is on the birth certificate but not the time of my birth I’m pre Ed by that part but now I know the hospital was janky
I was the first born on Jan 1 1967
My mother told me that she went through 2 hours of labor in this hospital with me. As far as I know, I was not adopted? Were there births at the hospital that were not adoptive? I was born 6/27/1949.
Yes. It provided maternal health/OB-GYN services for decades to low-income women, who were not giving their children up for adoption too.
I was born at this hospital in October, 1952. My 2 younger brothers were born here as well (1956, and 1957). None of us were adopted, but our family certainly would have been considered “low income”.
I thank the author of this article for the information, and the history provided for Crittenton . It’s very sad to hear about the difficulty that so many have had with finding the details and records relating to their own birth records.
John, thanks for your note and visiting my website. I appreciate your words for the many uncounted thousands of adoptees born here who are denied their legal and human rights to their identity documents because of Michigan’s discriminatory laws that treat adoptees as a class of people unworthy of legal equality. Yes, the hospital had a wing serving lower income families/parents/mothers.
I was born there in September of 1952. I was never adopted or anything of the sort, I too must assume that because we were not wealthy by any means it was an economic decision by my parents.
I was born there in 1961 to a married mom who was not low income. My mom also mentioned another mom in the bed next to her who was married and had a daughter the same day. It seems to have been a very loving place that served everyone. I’m very proud to call it my place of birth.
Cindy, thanks for visiting. It was a hospital, so it’s job was to provide competent medical care, under state supervision and the oversight of those whose job it was to care for vulnerable women and children. If it didn’t do that it would not have been allowed to operate. It was also a facility that promoted the separation of families through the U.S. adoption system. Its history has been quietly erased, and likely thousands of adoptees born there still don’t know about it because of state laws denying them records that show their birth place was this facility. I explain that in my book, which I hope you read. http://www.howluckyuare.com.
I was born there in 1961 as well.
Cindy My name is Michael Horton and I am a twin. We were also borned at this hospital in 1961 but I was raised in South Africa soon there after and cannot find any records on the hospital or My birth there. Is there any information that you can help Me with in this concern? You may email Me at: mluqman1961@gmail.com
Yes. Both of my daughters were born there in 1960 and 1961. I was married and kept them.
Me- I was born there but not adopted and I’m looking for my medical birth records. I was born prematurely due to domestic violence to my young married mother who was 16 and taken there to hide the violence
Yes. My son was born in 1967 and i took him home.
yes, I was born there just about 10 years after you were (April ’59) – my mother and father had been married for a dozen years by then. I think it was just the nearest hospital to our house at the time
All three of us kids were born at Crittenden Hospital in Detroit. The oldest in 1949 and the youngest in 1955. Same with my Aunt whose oldest was born in 1942. None of us were adopted so Crittenden did take married women as well. It just had adopted services included within that hospital that were not found elsewhere back then.
Thanks, yes my writing about the hospital notes Crittenton General Hospital in Detroit provided maternal care for both mothers who were strong armed to relinquish their infants and couples who kept their children. Two wings were later dedicated to adoption-related child births for those single moms. Find my story here (my book has more details). https://www.howluckyuare.com/crittenton-general-hospitals-forgotten-legacy/
I was born at this hospital in June 1969. I recently found a record of my birth from the hospital, including adoption discharge notes, in a box my adoptive mother gave me. The document lists Crittenton Hospital as the birth hospital, where I remained until my adoptive parents returned from an out of country business trip later that month. Like my birth certificate, my adoptive parents are listed as my parents. This document includes my birth-mother’s blood type, as well as my height, weight, etc., which is cool… b/c I didn’t know this information before.
It’s frustrating that our records remain sealed.
Thanks for writing and visiting, Noel. It’s nice to meet another adoptee from Crittenton General Hospital, the hospital with a story intentionally forgotten because of what that hospital did for decades. So you had medical records in the notes? My medical records were copied into my adoption agency file. Only after I found my birth mother in 1989, and she signed a consent form to release my records, did I get the medical information about my first weeks in life, my birth, and my overall health. This included records of my birth and later critical care hospitalization in another hospital in an ICU before I was placed in foster care. I can’t tell from your description what you received. Is it just one page? Full medical records should be many pages long, and it sounds like you didn’t get that from this collection. I hope you are able to one day get records of your beginning. They are yours in every sense.
Hi my name is Wendy Brown, I was born at this hospital October 1966. My files are sealed, and I’m trying to locate my biological parents. I don’t know where to start.
My nephew did a 23 and Me DNA test and found that a beautiful woman cane up related. He posted this information on our family text with a picture of her. The key was that she said she was told she was born in Detroit. She has many features of my husband and he said yes this was his daughter that he had been missing for years. My husbands parents and the girls parents had them do this. I am glad to say that it is such a blessing for them to be reunited.
Ancestry DNA, I was also born there July 1968. I did Ancestry and found a search angel, that found all of my bio family within 5 days. Good luck
No person should be required to surrender their personal biological privacy/information to a for profit company when providing a vital record is a human rights matter that should be respected for all persons. I’m sorry you had to: pay for this, provide your identity to a DNA company and be denied the information for decades. Changing the law is the only lasting permanent solution for equality for all adopted persons in Michigan.
You can start here. https://www.howluckyuare.com/guide-michigan-adoptees-seeking-court-orders-original-birth-certificates/. Also try adopteerightslaw.com. My book gives you a road map for searching with limited rights. Thanks.
I was born at Crittenton on November 12, 1962. I too, received a one page document listing my birth mother’s blood type, hours in labor, type of delivery, and time of my birth. I also have a page that indicates I was a potted about 2 months after birth. I have always wanted to know more.
Thank you for this story.
I was born at Florence Crittenton Hospital January 15, 1950. My parents were sponsored to Detroit in 1949 by the Detroit (Delray) Hungarian community after the borders opened up again after WWII. They both ran from Hungary in early 1945 knowing socialism was entering Hungary. They escaped to Salzburg, Austria (then) and my Dad, as a former foreign Officer, helped the American Army who in return said they would help them to get sponsors to the USA as possible. 1949 came and they arrived in the Boston Harbor and were welcomed to Detroit. Many roads are difficult yet I am very lucky I was born 1/2 year later at Florence Crittenton Hospital in Detroit. I never knew of this history you speak of and am amazed of so many who cannot trace their past heritage. Thank you for opening my eyes on this hospital and its rich (and sometimes very sad) history. But, I also thank them for the opportunity of being the first-born citizen of the USA in my family. They were a good hospital for all women, as I heard. I wish you all success in finding what you need for your curiosity, your right to know, and for closure!
Hi Violet thanks for visiting and your comment on the history of Crittenton General Hospital. Yes, one of three hospital wings was open to the general public, mostly lower income patients, but not all. I visited Delray in 2015, and as you probably know that area has faced incredibly hard times and is changed forever. The history of the hospital is very complex, and I explain in much great detail in my book, which can be ordered on my website.
This is an amazing article …I’m so glad this fell into my lap, I found my original birth certificate just now and looked up Crittenton. Yes extremely hard to get my birth records too, this says a whole lot about Detroit history that people don’t care to discuss, again thanks for this Article fantastic info.
Hi Walt, thanks for visiting and for your reply. It sounds like we have the same birth place. I have a longer article as well about Crittenton General Hospital here: https://www.howluckyuare.com/crittenton-general-hospitals-forgotten-legacy/. And my book has even more details too. Best regards.
Thanks for the story. I had a child there in December 1965. I had the choice to decide whether or not to give her up for adoption. I am so happy that I did not give her up. I was not from a low income family and I shared a room with a wealthy girl from Chicago. We were there to keep out of the limelight due to the shame of being an unwed mother during those times. My heart goes out to those having difficulty finding their birth mothers. Some of the girls had agencies that made them sign their babies away before they gave birth. Many of the girls were from Detroit. I was from Oakland County. My agency was Children and Family Services.
Thank you for sharing your story here and providing a unique and very personal experience on what many women had to confront. The situation was not easy. Was your agency the Lutheran affiliate? Thanks again for visiting and sharing.
My birth mother stayed at the Florence Crittenton Home for Unwed Mother’s in Lincoln Heights, CA in 1957. Sinister and illegal things went on in those homes. At the very least, all the women were coerced into giving their babies up. I know for a fact that the Los Angeles County lied to my adopted parents. The adoption workers lied whenever it suited them.
They would not let my birth mother hold me. She had to view me behind glass. I AM SO ANGRY AT THE WAY SHE WAS TREATED I DON’T THINK I WILL EVER GET OVER IT.
Then to top it off, the Los Angeles County got my medical information wrong on my Non-ID report. They said my grandmother died of Pneumonia. She did not. She died of food poisoning. They never bothered to proofread their report. The County of Los Angeles treats the adoption community like second rate citizens.
I just recently acquired my father’s adoption records. My Dad was born somewhere else I assume in March, 1932. In Oct 1932, he was given up (released) by his mother to Crittenton. He was adopted in April 1936. It is assumed he was treated very poorly here as he cried whenever someone wearing white would come near him. Very sad start to his life and then drafted into combat in Korea at age 18.
I know whom the father was, my bio grandpa and I assume he had a one night stand or a long weekend when he traveled for work. Ironically, my bio grandpa died in June 1934 in an auto accident while my baby father live in Crittenton.
Is it safe to assume that very few fathers sought custody of illegitimate offspring?
At this point I may not pursue his original birth certificate. I know whom my grandparents were and all the relevant dates so the adoption papers may be enough for me. Grandpa of course is not mentioned by name on the adoption records and if I had not found him elsewhere, I am certain I’d pursue the birth certificate.
I was born at Florence Crittenton Hospital in 1970. I am one of the children you are talking about. My mother was sent there to have me and to finish school, however the hospital by this time had moved to separating mothers from their children. So I was adopted out within 3 weeks of my birth.
I requested my general information from the Methodist Children’s Home, which is one of the agencies used by Crittenton hospital in the 60s and 70s.
I went directly to the new Crittenton hospital in Rochester Michigan ,and requested my medical records. I was sent maybe 5-8 pages with black lines through my doctor, my mother’s name ,and any information pertaining to my mother was blacked out. However it did have a lot of information I didn’t know.
Robin, thanks for visiting my site and sharing your story. I was adopted through the Lutheran social service system out of Crittenton General Hospital I’m glad you shared that Crittenton in Rochester, which has now be bought out by the Catholic run Ascension health system, has some or maybe many birth records from the two systems. The Rochester hospital, before it was bought out, denied having those records when I contacted them in 2017. So now we know that the records from the now closed and destroyed Detroit Crittenton may reside at the Rochester hospital and that I was lied to, if what you are saying in true. Glad you got those records. By law they had to give them to you. That is required.
I was born there in 1964, but fortunately my mother chose not to give me up. I guess I was a lucky one…interesting story. I am quite surprised the Crittenton Hospital in Rochester chose to “whitewash” the history of the original hospital in Detroit. I would think they’d at least embrace the concept that the staff at the original Detroit location gave it their all to help single mothers and the eventual adoptive parents.
Thanks for visiting my website and this article, Jim. The Crittenton General Hospital had 3 wings. One wing was dedicated to serving mothers who needed maternity care services, and many were likely lower income from the research I have done. This was the wing for women who did not give up their children or who were married. The outcomes at Crittenton facilities (nationally) based on a study I found from the year of my birth showed that the women who did have children at their facilities had better health outcomes (meaning to them and their infants). So there was a slight beneficial outcome from the care–which is supposed to be how interventions work. The problem was, they were also promoting families to be separated too. And yes, the “whitewashing” of the Crittenton connection from the Rochester facility is no different to other places that have erased their ties to the promotion of adoption during the three boom decades after World War II.
I was born there in 1964- my mother was a teenager forced to marry out of state in Texas. I was premature due to domestic violence and presently tying that to my present health issues. Present day my birth father would likely be in jail like he deserved but guess they didn’t back then. He succeeded in terminating another pregnancy 5 years later. I at least survived the beating pre birth. This article is helping me understand more.
I was born in 1961 and went through the ‘system’, ended up in foster care and then adopted (so the story goes). I don’t know if this was the hospital, that’s what I’m hoping to find out. My [adoptive] mother told me the hospital I was born in burned down and along with it my birth records but I can find no record of a Detroit hospital burning down. It was searching for that hospital that led me to your site. There is a lot of shadow and mystery surrounding my adoption which includes the murder of my social/case worker and the total black hole of information regarding my birth father. And obtaining adoption information is like pulling an abscessed tooth out of the mouth of an already angry lion.
You were told a lie. The “burned hospital” and “burned records” is one of the most consistently used forms of denying the truth and basic information about one’s own’s identity to millions. A birth could have happened at any number of hospitals with ob-gyn care. Crittenton General Hospital served single pregnant mothers, who were strong-armed to surrender their infants to the adoption system. You all could have been born at the Hutzel’s Women’s Hospital, which would have been in operation then too. You likely were born at Crittenton. It didn’t burn down. It closed in 1975 and was razed a year later. You by law are allowed to request your adoption records and non-identifying information that MUST be provided to you by law. No exception. Check your amended birth certificate–it might list the facility, but they often omitted it to hide the name Crittenton, which was known nationally for adoptions in most US cities. Go here to learn how to get your records you are allowed to get by law (under adoption records). It’s likely the state agency, MDHHS, will lie to you. Don’t let them do that. You have legal rights to your non-identifying records, and that should be in the state record or the records of the agency that placed you. If that system went belly up, those would have been given to the successor agency or the state, by law. You cannot be denied that basic information. https://www.michigan.gov/mdhhs/0,5885,7-339-73971_7116_7128—,00.html.
I was adopted through the Methodist Chilfren’s Village. I have also been told that the Crittendon Hospital burned down and all records were lost, that was over 35 yrs ago. In continuing to read others stories I feel angry all over again. Grrr. To know now that I could have gathered info on my birth mother when she was most likely still living is upsetting
Marti this is a lie. The hospital, Crittenton General Hospital did not burn down. Nor were records “lost” by such a fire. I wrote an article what happened to it; go here: https://www.howluckyuare.com/crittenton-general-hospitals-forgotten-legacy/. Let us know who told you this documented lie. Thanks.
My identical twin sister and I were born at this hospital in 1961 and subsequently placed for adoption. We have searched for years unsuccessfully for any of our birth records. Sadly they are locked up tighter than Fort Knox. We have made some progress recently only thru ancestrydna but are still searching for information ….
Judie: Thanks for sharing our story. I am sorry that the state of Michigan continues to deny you both your rights to your original birth records, which are given to all other Michigan born persons. It’s wrong. The law has to be changed, but the climate in the legislature is so far to the right, I can’t any reform for a long time. Perhaps share your story with the media to show how cruel this system is in the denial of your human rights? Best.
I was born here June 16,1970. According to my adoptive mother it was because bio mother unwed and biracial (black&white) parents. I’ve done an AncestryDNA 12/20…but so far nothing significant.
My birth record is at the county juvenile court, but sealed
John: I was born there in January 1954. My father was either employed either as an intern or he was working in his residency. Some months later my mother was delivering another boy, and he died during childbirth as the umbilical cord strangled him during the delivery process. My parents never talked about the instance, however knowing this, I never inquired of the specifics. For some time now, I have inquired to learn more specifically of this history. I have been unable to achieve much success from my efforts. Do you have any suggestions I may pursue to learn of the identity of my stillborn brother? I live in Knoxville, TN and am 68 years old. God bless you and thank you for any info you can provide.
Thanks for posting this information. My birth certificate shows Florence Crittenton Hospital in Wayne County, Michigan, as my birth place. Is it the same hospital you mention here? There is no hospital address on the birth certificate.
If you were born between 1932 and 1974, it would be Crittenton General Hospital. They built another facility in Rochester, MI, in the 1960s, and it’s been taken over the by Catholic Church-run healthcare empire called Ascension Health. The address for the now torn down Crittenton General Hospital facility was 1554 Tuxedo Street (now Rosa Parks). I can’t tell if you’re referring to your amended birth certificate or original birth certificate. Generally amended birth certificates hid the name to also hide the facts that the child was adopted, and this was one of the largest adoption-based maternity facilities in the USA.
My father was an ob-gyn resident at Crittenton Hospital around 1944 and my younger brother was born there in November 1946 so yes, there were babies born there that we not adopted.
Thanks, Sheila. That’s what I had documented too. Did your father talk about delivering infants and how many were placed for adoption? That would be good to know for these years (1940s).
I was at the FC maternity home, giving birth to a daughter who found me . It doesn’t suprise me that so many people can’t get their birth records. The preexpecting girls at the home were given work detail to alphabetize and organize the medical records of mothers and babies at the hospital….all before computers . They were really a mess and some girls tried to do a good job and others didn’t care.
I spent 6 months there in 1969 and 1970
I was born there in 1964. After reading this I now believe that my mother did have twins, and one was taken away. There was no need for her to be in that particular hospital if not for adoption. I believe now that I wA meant to be adopted but my grandmother and her sister’s had second thoughts.
The hospital served the general public, women who were “forced” into surrendering their kids for adoption, and likely women with perhaps fewer resources. There was also the Hutzel’s Women’s Hospital in Detroit too, which served women. https://historicdetroit.org/buildings/hutzel-hospital. Can you share how you believe there were twins? Was that identified in records shared? Thanks for visiting and your comment.
My mother was born in the hospital on Jan 6, 1927. She then stayed for close to two years with her unwed mother in the maternity home. My mother was then adopted out on Dec 18, 1928. I wish there were records available for this time frame. My mother was born Mary Boone. Her mother was 14 at the time. Her name was Helen H. Boone.
I have been cleaning out my mother’s apartment because she moved to a nursing home and while going thru and packing her stuff, I was shocked to find out that she had a baby boy, 5 years before she had me, that she gave up for adoption. This was kept a secret from just about everyone. I’m literally still in shock because it’s the last thing I expected to ever find out. Someone from work just sent me this article.
The baby she had was born 8/19/1964 at 5am. Her name was Carol Berndt and she was 21 years old when she had him. I know it’s possible that he doesn’t know he was adopted and that if he does know he might not be interested in reconnecting with us, but I’m hoping I can find him. I was an only child (so I thought) so of course I would love to meet my brother. If anyone has any ideas of how I can go about it, let me know.
My mother was born at FC in 1917. I had no idea it was a home for unwed mothers. My grandmother kept my mother. On my mother’s birth certificate it is plainly stamped illegitimate. It is something that bothered her all her life.
Elizabeth, if your mother was born in 1917, then the maternity home/hospital then was definitely for single women, who had children outside of marriage. The Florence Crittenton Association was dedicated nationally to serve those mothers and their kids, and only after the mid-1940s did it promote adoption. You can read about that history on another of my articles, such as this one: https://www.howluckyuare.com/crittenton-general-hospitals-forgotten-legacy/. There were different facilities that operated in Michigan over its lifespan there. Please see that article. Thanks for visiting my website.
My brother and I were just informed that my mom was sent there to have a baby which was given up for adoption. Is there a way for us to find any of the birth records? We have the birth date and year. What’s the best way to try and find our birth brother?
I would encourage you, Lisa, to read my book, which can be purchased on my webpage. Also used the search tool and simply surf my site for answers to “how to start” your project. My site has many resources that will require you to “dig in,” as it requires a lot of work because of archaic, harmful laws. You can also support efforts of all adoptees by sharing your story with the media about this to raise awareness of the impacts of these laws. Without public knowledge, the laws won’t be changed. Thanks for visiting my website.
I just ran across a picture of this hospital in my mom’s belongings. She and my Dad adopted me in 1967.
I did not know what hospital this was and not certain if that is where I was born. My mother did have a still born in1958 I think.
I do know my birth mother and will ask her if that is where I was born.
I look forward to reading the book.
If you were born and adopted in Detroit, it is highly likely you would have been born here, based on the year you mentioned. Thanks for sharing this. Let me me what you think of my book too, if you get it. I look forward to your comments. Best.
I was born at this hospital in Feb 1964. My mother was unwed and 14 years old.
I have so many questions unanswered .
I was told She changed my name to her name at birth and then back to the name I have now 9 months later with my father thru the court.
I’m wondering though if I was placed in foster care/adoption at the time of birth.
I’m looking to get north medical records. Any suggestions would be helpful.
Detailed medical records would be in your adoption records of the adoption agency that placed you. If that agency has gone out of business, the records would be taken over by the successor adoption agency (like what happened to my records) or the state of Michigan’s Department of Health and Human Services. You need to find out that information first. Then write to them/call them/bother them relentlessly. They can and should release records if they redacted of identifying information. In my case, I receive my medical records only after I had found my biological mother, who signed a consent form that required the state to surrender these documents to me. That’s rare. You can also demand of your state lawmakers and Gov. Gretchen Whitmer that they unseal the records. Unless they hear from you directly, they won’t care. You have a chance to help others this way. If not you, who, if not now, when? https://www.howluckyuare.com/2023/06/
I was born at this hospital in Feb 1964. My mother was unwed and 14 years old.
I have so many questions unanswered .
I was told She changed my name to her name at birth and then back to the name I have now 9 months later with my father thru the court.
I’m wondering though if I was placed in foster care/adoption at the time of birth.
I’m looking to get north medical records. Any suggestions would be helpful.
I was born at F C in Detroit in April of 1949. I was adopted in August of that year. I was told the same story about a fire and loss of files when I attempted to get my records. Back in the late 1970’s. Sounds like I should try again now that the Hospital in Rochester has been taken over by Ascension. Fingers crossed.
A side note based on the recollection of a Funeral Home Owner in Northville Michigan. Apparently, many pregnant girls from wealthy families from across the country were sent to stay (ie. be hidden during their pregnancies) in a TB Sanatorium in Northville (409 High Street near 8 Mile Road) in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s. The Funeral Home owner would drive them into Florence Crittenton in Detroit when they were near the end of their pregnancy, and they would stay for the last weeks and deliver their babies.
Thanks for sharing this anecdote Crittenton General Hospital. For the record, if you were told your files were lost in a fire, that was a bald-faced lie. This lie has been used repeatedly, and its well documented, by countless state agencies, hospitals, and adoption businesses to hide vital records from adoptees. I published information on my website (https://www.howluckyuare.com/faqs-court-order-requests-michigan-original-birth-certificates/) where your birth records (your original vital records) may be held/requested. Thanks also for the story on the funeral home. Can you provided a published source to document this? I’d like to share a verified news account.
Thank you for all this information! I was born at the Crittenton in Rochester, so it always “just was” for me — dad was on staff there. Though Ascension has shorn “Crittenton” from the hospital’s name entirely now, it’s common to hear it in Rochester still. When mom needed surgery there recently, I walked through a hallway with photographs and displays of its history, both in Detroit and in Rochester. She knew its Detroit roots, but that’s decades of Michigan history. I’ll take pics next time and share.
Awesome read, I was born there in Dec 1967. Overall, my story follows many of the reports mentioned. Overall, I’m trying to piece my story together. There are things that I know. I know that we were low income but not until recently, I found, at age 54, through DNA evidence that my father that was mentioned on my birth record was not my biological father. To my knowledge I wasn’t adopted. Nevertheless, I can empathize with the author as it is hard as Hell to find the truth. My hope is that all Crittendon alum find the answers that all children richly deserve… the truth!
Wow, this is so touching to hear all of these stories. I am a product of this environment as well. Born to a young mother that was taken to this hospital in 1965. I too was put up for adoption at six months old. The first six months of my life is unaccounted for. I believe I was probably just there at that facility. I was placed in a home in West Michigan. To an older couple who took very good care of me. I was adopted by them and 1970. I just recently connected with my biological family after 55 years. It’s unimaginable to know that I can’t get my hands on my original birth records. Although I had never seen my original birth certificate. I did carry my mother’s last name. I’ve known that was my name my entire life. Both of my parents are still living, and I did get to meet them. And now I have a relationship with both of them.
I was born in this hospital April 1949. I was adopted 5 mos later. I was told I was ‘held’ in the hospital and not adopted until August as I was ill. I haven’t been able to get any hospital records or my original birth information or certificate. So frustrating!
Karen, it is injustice, and you deserve your vital records as a basic human right. Thanks for sharing your story here too.
I was born there on August 10, 1957. My birth Mother was unwed. According to what I have heard and learned, my adopted parents were at the hospital the night I was born and my birth mother and grandmother handed over to my parents when I was 3 days old. I do know my original name as I have sent for and received my original birth certificate from the State of Michigan. I do have some original paperwork work from the hospital such as a feeding record. I have spoke to my birth mother but she has not made the best choices in life. I was blessed to have my loving parents.
Everyone can say what they want, but we need to stop blaming birth mothers for being coerced into putting their infants up for adoption by a system that separated millions of families. Michigan’s public health system, MDHHS, will never release a birth certificate unless the most stringent conditions are met (it’s systemwide discrimination by law, enforce by draconian bureaucrats who will also violate court orders that compel them to release original birth records to adult adoptees born between 1945 and 1980). Can you share when you had your birth certificate (original) released and if you provided a court order? As I’ve shared on my website, MDHHS is now violating the law in my latest request for 2 copies of my original birth certificate. I’ve provided 2 court orders, and only one was needed–by law.
I was born in this hospital Florence Crittenten in 1934 corner of Tuxedo and Webb and now I am 90 and still living a good life.
I My mother has passed away she had news paper clippings. Wish I could find them.i was a new years baby, 1967