Multiple or Unspecified
Fitzgerald, Ella
Fitzgerald's birth parents both died when she was a child; she never knew her father and her mother died about 1935. Some sources state that she earlier ran away from her abusive step-fathe... [more]
Goldie
Goldie (there are at least two versions of how he got his name: one is that it dates from his time as a Rastafarian, because of his hair color; the other, also that it derives from Goldiloc... [more]
Henson, Matthew Alexander
Henson was orphaned as a boy and was mistreated by his uncle. He ran away and lived on the streets for a while, until he was taken in by a Miss Janey, who ran a café where he worked and whe... [more]
Kipling, J. Rudyard
Kipling was born to English parents in Bombay, but when he was six years old he and his sister were sent back to England, where they were fostered until 1877 by a rigidly Calvinistic family... [more]
Mabon Mab Modron
According to the ancient tale Culhwch ac Olwen, Mabon son of Modron was kidnapped when he was three days old and imprisoned in Gloucester Castle for many years. His rescue was one of the si... [more]
McCarthy, Mary Therese
McCarthy was born in Seattle and orphaned when she was six. She was raised by relatives who abused her, before being taken from them by sympathetic grandparents. She had an unhappy childhoo... [more]
McDaid, Desmond
McDaid was the son of a single mother in Ireland, who had to leave him in an orphanage when he was two. He stayed in Irish orphanages until he was nine, when he was shipped, without his mot... [more]
McMillon, Doris E.
McMillon was born just after World War II to a German woman; her father was an African-American soldier in the allied occupation force. Unable to care for her, her parents placed her in an ... [more]
Native American and Alaskan Native Children
Children of Native Americans and Native Alaskans were frequently taken from their birth families by Indian Agents (agents of the US Bureau of Indian Affairs), often by subterfuge, and place... [more]
Nazi Germany
Three special aspects of this terrible time are related to adoption. These are in addition to the orphans and separated families created when foresighted Jewish parents sent their children ... [more]
