ShakerS Ahadkoepr Atedoepste Sesp Sepaeakk OOuutt 34 ShAKerONLINE.COM | SUMMER 2015 For years, around his birthday, Andrew Cleminshaw observed a tradition. “I would light a candle in honor of whoever my birthparents were for giving me life,” says Cleminshaw, who was adopted as an infant. One year, after lighting a candle during a service at Shaker’s First Unitarian Church, Cleminshaw was approached by Betsie Norris, executive director of Adoption Network Cleveland. “She piqued my interest in finding my own biological parents,” recalls the Shaker resident. “I have amazing, wonderful adoptive parents, but I was at a point in my life where I was curious.” He was in his 30s and about to get married. With the assistance of Adoption Network Cleveland, Cleminshaw was able to locate his birthparents. They were in Northeast Ohio. He wrote a letter. They met. And today, both are part of Cleminshaw’s life. He credits Adoption Network Cleveland for the results. “They are a brilliant organization,” says Cleminshaw. “They are really concerned with the whole triad of adoption. It was not just about me, but also about working with my adoptive parents to make sure they were comfortable, and my birthparents.” For adoptees, birthparents hold answers to questions that many have spent years wondering about. That includes big questions like “Where did I come from?” But there are the smaller ones too. “A lot of it is just having family members who look like you,” explains Cleminshaw, who lives in Shaker’s Lomond neighborhood. “When I first met my biological family, I noticed this trait of giant ears and it was like, ‘Oh, I got those ears.’” Andrew Cleminshaw and Darlene Collins
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