Langley finds the child she adopted 35 years ago
By Rebecca Roper/Special to the Tribune
Wednesday, May 7, 2008 3:49 PM CDT
Olive Branch resident Peggy Langley has an amazing story to share about being re-united with a son that she adopted more than 30 years ago.
It was in 1965 that she looked into adopting a child after she had suffered two miscarriages and given birth to a stillborn son. She even underwent a major operation to prevent another miscarriage.
Still not giving up on having a child, she met with a pregnant woman who lived about fifty miles from Memphis who wanted to give up her child for adoption after giving birth.
Over the next few months, Langley cared for this woman by finding her a place to live in Memphis and providing for her and her other four children.
On December 26, 1965, Langley's long awaited child was born. She recalled waiting in the nursery that day and looking at every baby that came out. When the doctor announced, "This one is yours," she finally laid eyes on what she described as "the most beautiful, perfect baby in the world."
"The doctor assured me that he had all his fingers and toes, but even if he had not, nothing would have stopped me from taking this baby home," she said.
She named the baby boy Kerry. Because she wanted to have her name on his birth certificate, an attorney advised her that she would have to file an adoption with the state of Tennessee.
Langley also explained that because he was a newborn, they had to get an interlocutory decree and the adoption would not be final for six months. During this time, the baby became a ward of the state. Meanwhile, she and her husband filled out all necessary paperwork and went through all the medical exams.
Before Kerry was five months old, she and her husband were separated. The welfare worker informed Langley that there had been complaints and reports of her husband's irresponsible behavior.
She was then told by the welfare worker that if she and her husband could convince them that they could stay together because they loved each other, they would be able to keep the baby. Because of this pressure, she attempted at reconciling with her husband, but to no avail.
"Today, I know that they could not have taken him away because he was legally mine and I could have stopped the adoption process and the only thing that would have happened is he would not have had "Kerry" on his birth certificate," she said.
At the welfare department's insistence, she went to the judge to surrender the child. Before they took him, she made a promise to him as she rocked him, a promise that one day she would find him and that she would always love him.
When asked by the judge if she was doing this in the best interest of the child, she agreed, although she was only saying what she was told by the welfare workers.
Later, she called the judge at his home and pleaded with him, explaining that she was only saying what she was told. "No, it wasn't in Kerry's best interest to have a father and a mother; I could do everything for him that a father could do, including taking him fishing," she recalled telling him.
The judge informed her lawyer that she would be granted another hearing if her marital status changed. She then filed for divorce and an adoption as a single person all in the same day.
Since Langley was the legal mother, she was allowed to see him once a month for thirty minutes while he was in foster care. "One time the welfare worker let me leave the building with him. I took him to the famous Old Blue Light Studio on Beale Street and Main to have our picture taken," she recalled.
When her court date finally came up, the judge informed her that he would base his ruling on what the welfare worker said, which was that while Langley was the perfect mother and an excellent house keeper, the child needed both a mother and father.
"I have never forgotten the judge's gavel pound as I screamed, cried, and pleaded that single people adopted babies all the time in California and New York. He pounded his gavel each time he spoke, 'Not in Tennessee, not in Shelby County, and not in my courtroom.'"
Every year for Christmas since the child was eighteen, Langley put an ad in the paper searching for him. It wasn't until 2000 that Langley began searching for him on the Internet. After a long process, she finally found him in December of 2002.
Langley finally met with Kerry, now called David, and his adopted parents. She also met David's daughter, Jessica, now 14.
Since the reunion, David and Langley have become close although he resides in Knoxville, Tennessee. "He is really a very nice and intelligent person. He doesn't have a lazy bone in his body and he's very active in his church," Langley said of him. "I don't know why he thinks so much of me," she added, mentioning how he now calls her "mother" now that his adopted mother has passed away.
The last time David was visiting Langley, he told her that he had always wanted to go to Graceland. "So, we did, that very night," she added.
Amazingly, even after a separation of more than thirty years, Langley kept her promise to the baby that she always wanted as they share a wonderful relationship today.
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