Book leads Burnison to unknown siblings
Christmas is said to be a holiday that is celebrated as a human family; not as individuals nor as a nation. More than a year ago, Jan Burnison’s family got a bit larger as she was finally reconnected with her biological half-sister, Janet, and her family.
“From as young as I can remember, I always knew I was adopted,” Jan explained. “I was adopted at seven and a half weeks old in 1949 from The Willows Hospital in Kansas, City, Mo. My parents were unable to have children.”
Growing up in Coin, Burnison’s mother passed away from cancer in the second grade. She recalled being absolutely devastated. Her father would pass away in 1994 from a heart attack.
“I never would have asked them anything about my adoption because they were such wonderful parents; I never cared to know my real family. About five years after my dad passed, I wondered where I came from. I wondered what they had named me,” Burnison said. “I didn’t want to meet them, I just wanted to know about any possible medical issues and maybe find out if I had any siblings.”
Burnison contacted the Circuit Court of Jackson County, Missouri, where she was informed adoption files are sealed and that they can’t be opened by anyone other than the biological parents.
However, they could send her a short personal social history that would tell her very basic information.
“From that I found out my biological parents were not married. My father was 31 and was separated from his wife, and he had been in the military and was currently a junior in college. The woman was 24 and had been to business school. The two met at a skating rink. It was her parents who took her to Kansas City, and it was her mother who suggested the baby (me) be put up for adoption,” Burnison said.
The person she spoke to at the department of social services also informed Burnison she could hire an investigator who couldn’t tell her anything but could go to the parents home and let them know the child was looking for them. Burnison hired an investigator, who did contact her biological mother, who denied having a child that was put up for adoption. After the investigator showed her tangible proof, she recanted and said the only people who knew she had been pregnant were her parents and an older sister. She never told her husband or her children, the investigator passed along to Burnison.
“And that’s when I found out I had siblings,” Burnison. “She died of a heart attack the morning after the investigator spoke to her.”
Burnison stopped her search after that until September 2019 when she noticed a promotion from Amazon on her phone promoting a book called, “Mansion on a Hill: The Story of The Willows Maternity Sanitarium and the Adoption Hub of America” written by KeLee Parr.
“I knew I was from The Willows,” Burnison exclaimed. “I had researched it previously, and although it is an incredibly fascinating story, it didn’t help with my specific search.”
She ordered the book and when it came, she thumbed through it quickly and landed on the author’s note at the end. Although she has never read an author’s note before, she was drawn to it.
“In his notes he wrote how happy he was people were making connections to one another through the book; since Missouri changed the laws … it was as though the book was talking to me. I put the book down and called the department of social services in Jefferson City and they did agree, the adoption law changed in 2018.”
Burnison filled out the necessary paperwork in order to receive her birth certificate. She received it in about a month and learned her given name was Vicki McKinney and that her biological mother’s name was Betty Ann McKinney from Des Moines. I couldn’t believe it! My son, Jeff, lives in Grimes and I was raised in Coin!”
Utilizing the Internet and enlisting the assistance of her daughter, Jill, son-in-law, Brad, and granddaughter, Macy, Burnison learned of her biological father’s death, the death of her mother and the existence of a half brother and half sister. She called her half brother, who hung up on her after she introduced herself. She then photocopied the information she had gathered and mailed it to her half-sister, whose full given name is also Janet Sue.
“She called me Halloween of last year and said she wouldn’t have believed it was true if it weren’t for all the information I sent her,” Burnison said.
Turns out Burnison wasn’t a secret to everyone in the family. Four older cousins on her biological mother’s side knew about her, but had been sworn to secrecy as children.
“Janet asked them if they knew about another baby who was given up for adoption, and they finally admitted they did.”
A year ago, Jan, her husband Lowell, Janet met for the first time at a Des Moines hotel. Jan is five years older than Janet and eight years older than Roger. Janet has three children; making Jan an aunt, again.
“We also met just before COVID at her house. I can’t wait for COVID to be over so we can meet again! They are the sweetest people.”
In the sequel to Mansion on a Hill, called “More Voices of The Willows and The Adoption Hub of America Paperback” there is a chapter written by Burnison about her story. The book was published in October 2020. Burnison plans to donate a copy of both books to the Red Oak Public Library.
“To have spent so many years at the Washington School media center and now have a book with my story in it is really special,” Burnison said.