Two Taiwanese brothers adopted by Americans 34 years ago are seeking information or hoping to find their birth parents.
Huang Yao-fa (黃耀發), a doctor who provides medical services to children from the Home of God’s Love Orphanage through his clinic in Yilan County’s Luodong Township (羅東), said that the Luodong Police Precinct found the brothers in an air-raid shelter in 1985.
One of the children was two or three years old, while the other was five months old, police records showed.
Photographs courtesy of Huang Yao-fa
Their parents did not leave a note and the only things found with the children were some powdered milk and clean clothes, police records showed.
The police temporarily entrusted the children to the orphanage, which is also an adoption agency and is run by Ted and Beverly Skiles.
The orphanage was asked to formally take in the children after three months, as no one had claimed them, police records showed.
The children were given the Skiles’ Chinese surname, Shih (史), police records showed.
The children were taken to the US in 1986, Beverly Skiles said, adding that one of her acquaintances said she wanted to adopt them.
Huang said that the brothers, named Michael and Christopher Paynter by their adoptive parents, grew up in a happy family and received a proper education.
They are married and have their own families.
Michael Paynter works at a rehabilitation center and Christopher Paynter is a doctor, Huang said.
Beverly Skiles said Christopher Paynter returned to Taiwan in June for a few days, visiting the Chungshan Park, where he was found 34 years ago, and attended events at the adoption center, sharing his story.
Beverly Skiles said the adoption center a decade ago started trying to find the brothers’ biological parents, but had been unsuccessful.
Huang wrote an article about the brothers’ search after learning about their story in June and obtaining Christopher Paynter’s consent.
The brothers never ceased hoping to find their birth parents and hoped that the public would help, Huang said.
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