MYSTERY DEEPENS
Woman whose mother left three infants on Prince Rupert doorsteps in the 1970s wants to know if boy found at Lions Gate Hospital in 1980 is her brother
The tangled web of information uncovered by Janet Keall’s search for her biological family has left her with another mystery to solve.
The ongoing investigation by Keall, who was abandoned as a newborn in Prince Rupert, has revealed another sibling who was also abandoned at birth, as well as another possible half brother.
Keall, 39, searched unsuccessfully for her birth family for more than 20 years until mid-2016, when in the span of just six months she discovered a half sister and a half brother who had also been abandoned as newborns in Prince Rupert. DNA testing confirmed they share a mother but have different fathers. They were abandoned within three years and three months of each other in the 1970s.
Last November, Keall found a match on a DNA registry, which led to the trio’s birth mother. She died in the Lower Mainland last summer and had told no one about the births and abandonments, including the man she married and the son she raised.
Armed with her birth mother’s name, Keall began searching to satisfy a nagging feeling that she could have more siblings somewhere. Her search uncovered records that confirmed her birth mom had another daughter who was also abandoned and died soon after.
Keall applied for medical records on the newborn and received a thick package of documents about the girl’s birth in 1983 in Vancouver. She learned that her mom gave birth and shortly after walked out of the hospital, leaving the baby behind.
No one in her mom’s family knew about the birth. The baby, whom Keall has called Rose, was born with serious medical issues and lived for only a month, most of it as a ward of the government. She died at a hospice and was buried in Vancouver.
It was in those records that Keall found even more startling information. A note in the file indicated her biological mom admitted to five pregnancies before the birth of Rose.
Together with three volunteers, she went through archived newspapers focusing on where her mom lived and the time periods between the births Keall knew about.
It didn’t take long for a July 29, 1980 story in The Province to catch the eye of one of the volunteers.
“Who left baby on doorstep?” asked the headline.
The subject of the article, a boy who was left on the doorstep of North Vancouver’s Lions Gate Hospital just hours after birth, has Keall wondering if he is another child abandoned by her mom, who was living in North Vancouver at that time.
Now Keall wants help finding that baby, who may never have been told he was abandoned.
Nurses at the hospital called the dark-haired boy Kenneth Allan. He would now be 36.
“He was abandoned in the same way I was abandoned, at the back doorway of a hospital,” Keall said. “I would like to talk to him because there is a very good chance he is part of our story, that he is part of our clan.
“It’s really a journey of truth. If he is in fact related to us I can give him extensive medical information, information about our biological mother, names of potential fathers.”
Ultimately, Keall would like to find the man and discuss the possibility of a DNA test.
“If he doesn’t want to further a relationship with us, we would respect that,” she said.
“We want him to know that he is included and that the three of us would want to meet him. We want him to make the best decision for him. We would never want to coerce a relationship or upset him. We want him to feel as comfortable as possible, with whatever decision he would make,” she said.
“While the search has been public, I would strictly adhere to his wishes for privacy and never release his identity without his permission.”
Keall is also looking for information about any babies abandoned in B.C. from the beginning of 1980 to the end of 1982.
“Since there is a pattern to all of our abandonments and there is a gap, it leads me to believe that there are more, even in addition to baby Kenneth,” she said.
If you have any information that could help her find Kenneth Allan, Keall asks that confidential tips be emailed to withgreatabandon@gmail.com. You can also call 604260-6890. On Facebook, Keall runs the page @withgreatabandon and on Instagram and Twitter her handle is @janetckeall.