The document lay in the bottom of the bureau drawer. Written in longhand was a name: Anna Fisher. “Who is Anna Fisher?” seven-year-old Florence asked her mother. The woman yanked the paper out of her hands and told her never again to mention that name. But the incident haunted the little girl. So begins the heart-wrenching story of a woman’s search for identity. For what Florence had discovered–and it would be years before anyone admitted it–was that though she was raised Florence, she was born Anna. As an infant she had been given up for adoption. Her attempt to raise the curtain, cloaking something to which she felt no one had a greater right–her past, a sense of continuity–exposed her to the censure, indignation, even the fury of those determined to wall off her identity. Over and over she heard: “You have no right to know.” No right? What about the right of the adopted child? The search for Anna Fisher, a search that took over twenty years, is like an enormously complex, highly-dramatic detective story. Florence Fisher began to comb the labyrinths of official birth and death records, newspaper morgues, and created her own genealogy chart of a family she’d never met. Aided only by her ingenuity and persistence, she finally succeeded in assembling the vital parts of the puzzle. The moment when she finally comes face to face with her natural mother is as dramatic as it is heart-clutching. A reunion totally different from the moment, a year later, when she completed the circle and found her father. Since that meeting, which changed her life forever, Florence Fisher has been active in helping others in their search. As president and founder of ALMA, Adoptees’ Liberty Movement Association, she has appeared on radio and TV shows, and numerous articles by and about her view on adoption have been published.
Adoptee Author: Florence Fisher
Publication Year: 1973
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