Since I wrote about Toby Dawson’s search for birth family during the Olympics, here and here, I also wanted to follow-up with a post about his reunion with his birth father. There is even a video showing their tearful reunion.

"I've been waiting for you for a long time," Dawson told his Korean father when they met in front of reporters.

His story boggles the mind. It is difficult to comprehend the differences in cultures sometimes, and this story does involve a country with a culture quite different I believe from ours in many respects. Maybe not, but I see it that way. Toby Dawson’s biological father “lost” his son in a market one day when he was nearly three years old. If a parent lost a child in our country, there would be Amber Alerts and the child might end up on a milk carton.

Instead, in Korea, Toby Dawson ended up in an orphanage. Then a few months later, he was adopted and sent to another country many thousands of miles from his home country. Since child abandonment is not that unusual in South Korea due to the harsh scorn inflicted on unwed parents, I wonder if the orphanage did much to check into his background before allowing his adoption. I do not know. The news article which accompanies this post says he spent a few months in the orphanage before being adopted.

No mention was made if there was any police involvement in searching for young Toby after he was lost in the market. Mind you, I am not necessarily faulting his biological father. From all accounts, he did all that he knew to do to find his son. It also seems clear that he loved and missed his son. He apologized and said that he looked in many orphanages for his son. Like many adoption stories, the details are quite fascinating and prove that life is sometimes stranger than fiction.

Good for Toby Dawson for publicly speaking out and trying to become involved in doing his part to make adoption better!There was a one liner in the story which said that his birth mother "had been located, but declined to attend the reunion." I hope that his birth mother decides to meet her son as well.