You may be able to contact the Childrens Home and ask about her.

I wonder if the name change was because at that age she was legally allowed to change it and was wanting to create her own identity for herself in some way. Maybe at that age a child is considered not likely to be adopted so she was encouraged to begin thinking of her adult life coming soon after age 16.

Also I'm thinking of the Catholic religion--which it no little about but I know that a friend told me once about adding a Catholic name to her name; I don' t know what it's all about but it comes to mind.

I wonder if she wanted to spare you her experiences of growing up in the Children's Home if they were unpleasant. I would imagine there must be some heart-wrenching grief of being abandoned, wanting a family, feeling different from her school friends, having very little, etc. There must have been no way for her to learn good parenting skills having no parents of her own.

This must be so hard for you to find out these things now, but I think it's very important for you and your healing that you did. Getting all the secrets out is hard but the truth, reality is what it is and can enrich your life with greater understanding of not only the secrets but the reasons for them being secrets. There is so much there to explore.

((( RACEKA )))