before we were adopted

anne and I,we were in kidergarten

we were three in this, anne crying,me

me ,lynn with santa,mom and dad.

Before we were ever adopted,there are things I remember to well.One being going to Ny Foundling for a check up,the nurse was taking our tempertures and the doctor was in his cubby hole /office and my father asked him about the medical history,the doctor said" we don't have that information",My father knew he was lying.

I can remember going to aunts and uncles,we went to the Bronx alot since nana and aunt alice lived there together,anne was affraid of sandy the dog,she was so sweet,she looked out for us.Anne one time fell asleep laying her head on sandy's tummy and sandy slept with us all night long.

One time nana locked herself out ,we had just come back from church,aunt alice had to get a neighbor climb down the fire escape to open the door,one time I got my hand caught in a door,the lady across the street always gave us m&m's and the candy store was at the end of the block,the wall scared me because on the other side was a cemetery.

Sometimes we'd go to work with dad and take the bus to nana's,i remember that well.Christmas was a big deal for all of us, first nana's,then nana olivers and aunt patty's, aunt sissy's and then aunt gracy and uncle joe,they lived right next door to aunt izzy and all the adults would go into aunt izzy's and the kids be watching tv in aunt gracy's,all the costa cousins and us.Uncle joe was my favorite,he was to funny and called my dad"joey",my dad use to live with them when he was a kid and help out in aunt janies apartment building.

Our aunts and uncles never treated us like "foster kids" or ever made a rude remark,they loved us as their own,we were their family.My Uncle joe would take me and anne to the candy store and give us $2.00 to buy something,sometimes he'd sneak alittle extra.Aunt izzy would give us each a few dollars, same with the rest,we'd save it to but something later.

Christmas was special in our home, anne and I loved the tv show"family affair" with buffy and jody,we related,they were two orphans adopted by their uncle bill.I loved mrs. Beazly,oh I wanted that doll,she was so special to me,I could talk to her and cry and she'd comfort me.So on christmas there was Mrs. Beazly sitting in a doll carriage waiting for us,I loved her to death,i loved her till her arm broke so many times and had to be stiched up,i held her arm in one spot and it was getting old and would break easy,she went ever where with me, to pick nana up from the airport when she'd come back from london,to the store, car trips,where I went she went.She never called me names and she never judged us.I slept with my doll till I gave her up when I was older.

My parents

Anne,Me,My mom holding the cake,
aunt alice and my lynn.

Kathy Dahl,Our foster sister,lynn

anne and me.

Thats me sleeping,i still sleep that way,

Anne crying,on the back lawn,hehehe Rubber

Pants over cloth diapers.


My parents were foster parents.They moved to Bay Shore ny in 1963 after their daughter lynn was born.My mom use to work as a telephone operator and my dad worked for JFK airport.

My mother stayed home to raise us.She didn't return back to work till we were old enough and in school.Nana would come in on the train after work to help with all of us,we had to be a handful.

According to my mother,anne and I got into 8 bottles of powder and threw it all over the baby room, she cried her way in vaccuming.I personally don't think we were that bad.

My father worked several jobs to make ends meat and to see we all had what we needed,I needed to wear special shoes with a brace as i had turned in ankles as a baby then at age 3,I needed glasses for life, so as expensive as it was, my dad worked at JFK airport,the local deli and did side jobs with a neighbor fixing pizza ovens,I remember going with him once to the Bronx to fix an oven and stopping by to see Nana oliver on the way home.

Our first birthday in 1968,I do not remember however looking at the picture we were butter balls,anne still didn't have alot of hair and I did.My dad sometimes gave up new work shoes for my sisters and I to have what we needed,my mom stayed up alot of nights with us when we were sick or just needed holding,they love us very much.

Mrs. Danelivich,our case worker would come and visit,as far back as I can remember,she was always dressed nice, she had her hair done well,gold jewlery and smalled like flowers, she became a family friend but we also loved her.One time on halloween she brought us a coloring book and crayons as we were sick with colds.She'd sit and talk to my mother and my parents worried about adoption for yrs,they wanted so badly to adopt us soon.

My aunt patty said "one time your daddy mentioned a woman had been calling the ny Foundling to check on you two for two rys and suddely stopped",that was my Birthmother Gloria.

My parents gave of themselves,they wanted kids and loved kids but were unable to have more, they decided to become foster parents with Ny Foundling however that all changed after baby Robby.

Babby robby came to us just before we started kindergarten,he was the cutest kid you saw, brown hair, just cute.Anne and I would climb into his playpen to play with him or change his cloths,we loved him alot.I remember once albert next door came by to take pictures of him for my mom.He was part of our family, my parents wnated to adopt him as well,they had enough room in their hearts for more but then Ny Foundling took him from us ,My parents were heart broken,the foundling said"they were adopting us and to give robby to someone else".I came home and at the top of the stairs my mom was crying cleaning the baby room out,I asked for robby and she had to explain he had to go,we were all sad for along time.I never not think of him and how he has become a man and where he is at now.This stopped my parents for ever doing fostering again with Ny Foundling.

This is where it started,well sort of

This is anne marie and I,I am the one with alot of

Brown hair.

My name was Joann Lee Sideratos.I was born June 7,1967 with my feternial twin sister anne marie sideratos at the Roosevelt Hospital in Manhattan,Ny.

Seems I have been told this so many times,I was sick,i had contracted chicken poxs and pink eye in the hsopital.My sister almost got adopted before me and we were apart fo a triplet set,one died at birth.Our Birthmother,Gloria schank/Gloria sideratos walked out and left us.

In September we were taken in from the ny foundling to the foster home,My foster mother now had her hands full four little girls,one her's, one a foster child named Kathy Dahl and us.

The way they tell it was"we got a call from the foundling telling us they had twins who needed a home, would we be interested,we said yes, we packed the car with car seats and went in and got you the day after Labor Day.The nun told us anne looked like the Birthmother and you were a triplet and one died,you had a head of hair, anne was bald".So they took us home and my aunt patty tells me"when I got in on the train your parents told me to peek in the car they had a surprise,there you were head of hair and mom was holding anne who was crying".

I have one of the first pictures of my mother hodling us just as we came home.My neighbor said"you were cute,i remember going down to see you two and I held you as well.

I was my older sisters favorite and anne was kathy's,they'd care for us,dress us up,play with us,they were great big sisters.

I was a determined little booger, maybe thats why i'm so determined now,i would jiggle my crib to the center of the room to meet my sisters crib and climb in,my father bolted the crib down,i jiggled it till the bolts broke,i was mad.

{sorry for two picture of teh foundling}