COURTENAY, B.C. -- A Comox Valley woman has tracked down the brother she was separated from more than 50 years ago when the two siblings were put up for adoption.
Alice Notte was given an Ancestry DNA testing kit three Christmases ago and sent away her sample. Over time, it led her to eventually finding her brother Tom Roach, who now resides in Edmonton.
“She sent me a Facebook message and said, ‘I think you’re my brother,’ which was kind of odd, but she provided a few details about myself and my adoption that few people would have known,” says Roach.
Roach says he grew up knowing he was adopted, but had no idea he had any siblings, nor had he ever gone searching for any.
“There’s good stories and there’s bad stories and I personally think we overly romanticize it sometimes that we’re going to welcome each other with open arms,” he says. “It’s not always the case. It’s a tricky road to navigate.”
But Notte had spent years wondering about her brother and searching for him. She says it was a miracle to find the brother who never knew he was lost.
“I have a Facebook page in my birth name and every year when it was his birthday I would say happy birthday and I would think of him and wish him well, so he’s been in my heart for 50 years,” Notte says.
Since their December 2020 reconnection, both siblings have discovered their children are the same ages and their grandchildren were born just days apart. They haven’t met in person yet due to COVID-19, but hope to connect in-person eventually. Until then, they have to do five decades of catching up virtually.
“We almost chat every day,” says Notte. “We have one place where we all can go in the same time and my kids are learning about his kids and they’re all cousins and I became an auntie, which is something I never even thought about.”
She says she definitely recommends anyone curious about their long-lost relatives to do the same thing and encourages them to go through freedom of information requests, if necessary, to unseal adoption records.
