Adopted Arkansas judge finds his deceased birth parents after long search

An Arkansas judge has found his deceased birth parents after decades of searching, but says the process of understanding why they abandoned him as an infant has just begun.

Joseph Wood, who as the elected judge of Washington County is the chief executive officer of the greater Fayetteville area, said that a DNA report has confirmed his birth parents are deceased. His surviving biological relatives have yet to respond to his letters. 

He was about 5 days old when a Korean War veteran found him in a shoebox on a doorstep near Marquette Park in southwest Chicago during a snowstorm on March 20, 1965.

“On the one hand, I’m overjoyed and grateful to find my parents, but on the other hand I’m overwhelmed,” Judge Wood told The Washington Times. “After looking for your kin for 57 years, to find them and be told in the next breath that they’re deceased is a lot to grieve.”

CeCe Moore, a genetic genealogist who specializes in adoptive cold cases, contacted the judge on Thanksgiving, a few weeks after he took his search public, and offered to help find his parents.

By Christmas Eve, she had called back to say her team of volunteer DNA detectives had confirmed the exact autosomal genetic match with his deceased parents and brother through autopsy records.

Deeply moved, Judge Wood sent his surviving biological brother and sister a letter in early January. He followed it up with an email earlier this month, offering them a free DNA test to confirm it for themselves. As of Friday, they had not responded.

“The experts always encourage you to go slow in these cases, not to go in like a bull in a China shop, because this is new for them as well,” said Judge Wood, who turns 57 next month. “Some of them may have thought they’d go to their grave without sharing this with anyone.”

Because they have not answered his inquiries, the judge is keeping their identities anonymous.

“I did include my phone number and say they could look me up, so they don’t think it’s spam or some kook,” he said. “The last piece will be to make calls, but I want to go slow. If you say, ‘Hey, I’m your baby brother’ but they don’t know about you, it could be a shock to the system.”

He said Ms. Moore’s firm reported that his grandfather died in 2020 at 98 years old, his brother died at 48 in 2013, his birth father died at 68 in 2007. and his birth mother died at 36 in 1978. It also included photographs of them.

“His pictures in college look just like me,” he said of the deceased brother, a pharmaceuticals rep.

Elected twice to office, Judge Wood is the first Black county judge in Arkansas’ history and a Republican candidate for lieutenant governor in this year’s election.

The former corporate executive said the search for his birth family is more important than all of his accomplishments.

His decadeslong search led him to ancestry websites, DNA tests and Catholic Charities to retrieve his original “foundling child” birth certificate from the now-defunct St. Vincent’s Hospital and Infant Asylum in Chicago.

Eleven years ago, he befriended the man, now deceased, who found him in the shoebox.

Nothing more developed until the judge took his search public during National Adoption Month in November, hoping for a holiday miracle. 

With his parents located, he feels a mixture of sadness and joy.

“I love them. They must have loved me because they put me in a place where I could be found,” Judge Wood said. “They could have left me in a dumpster or an alley or aborted me, but they didn’t. So as hard as that decision must have been, I’m grateful for it.”

According to Ms. Moore’s report, the judge’s family left him on a doorstep in the same block of Marquette Road as his parents’ house in Chicago. His birth mother was 23 at the time.

“It feels like I’ve been left again, but I’m still here, I haven’t gone anywhere,” Judge Wood said. “Had she aborted me, I wouldn’t have a wife of 30 years and grandkids.”

As for his surviving relatives, he still holds out hope that they will respond to him.

“I really do hope they’ll respond to the letter and take the DNA tests to see for themselves that I’m their brother,” Judge Wood said. “My wife and three daughters want me to call right away, but I don’t want to scare them off.”

Even if they don’t respond, the judge added, he believes God will answer his questions in time.

“Why did they leave me? What were their lives like? If I don’t find my answers here, I’ll find them on the other side,” Judge Wood said.