Adopted Son Seeks Biological Father

Man and mom reunite and hope to find biological dad through newspaper ad.

March 11, 2008 — -- A mother and the son with whom she reunited after giving him up for adoption four decades ago are now searching for the missing dad to complete their family.

A Summer of Love

For Madelon Sprague, a summer of love during the mid 1960s in Aspen, Colo., resulted in an unplanned pregnancy. Worried about the stigma of single motherhood, she never told David, the baby's father, she was pregnant. She found out she was expecting after the couple split.

"I wasn't even about to attempt marriage at that point just because I was pregnant," she said on "Good Morning America" today. There was no point in telling him, she said, because she knew she was leaving Aspen.

A real estate broker at the time, Sprague carried the baby to term and gave him up for adoption. At the time, she didn't even know her child's sex.

"I knew I couldn't give him up if I knew the details or if I saw him," Sprague said.

Reuniting With Son

Years later, when her child would have turned age 18, Sprague joined an Illinois registry for parents who gave their children up for adoption. She wanted to ensure that if her child wanted to find her, he or she could.

It wasn't until Sprague's child was age 32 that he contacted her. In 1998, Sprague learned the child she gave up for adoption grew up to become a doctor named Peter (who asked that his last name not be used).

Peter had wondered about his biological parents.

But he waited to search for them.

"I think I tend to procrastinate in general," said Peter, now 41. He wanted to wait until he was ready.

When he was, he began communicating with Sprague by letter before they started talking on the phone.

"The reunion was not as astonishing as the photographs we sent to each other initially," Sprague said.

Peter's resemblance to David was astounding.

The Search for David

Now the pair wants to locate David, partly for medical reasons.

"There was one condition in the family that had [significant] implications," Peter said. "In general, some of these things can be important."

They also want to find David, whose last name might be Bibbins, because they'd like to give him an opportunity to be a part of their family.

"I want David to have the joy that I've had the last eight or nine years," said Sprague, who never married or had any other children. "I think he would really enjoy having that additional family in his life that I do."

Sprague said she remembered David was from California, and that he was born in the 1940s. He would now be in his mid 60s. He lived in Aspen at least between 1965 and 1966, where he worked in construction. Mother and son even put out an ad in The Aspen Times in hopes of finding him.

Sprague and Peter are determined but said if he wishes to remain anonymous, they'd understand.

"I'd respect that if he doesn't want to be found or come forward," said Peter, who is a father to 3-year-old Athena and 6-month-old Max.