NEED TO KNOW
- A man in Canada accidentally learned he was abandoned as a newborn in a paper bag inside a doctor’s car in Saskatchewan in 1964 while searching the archives at a public library in 1998
- Sherwin Moscovitch is continuing to look for his birth mother after discovering who his birth father was, he tells PEOPLE
- “I am hoping my birth mother is alive as well. I wanted to give her one message, and that would be simply, ‘Thanks,’ as it could have turned out a lot worse,” he shares
A man in Canada is searching for his birth mother, 61 years after he was abandoned as a newborn in a paper bag inside a doctor’s car.
Sherwin Moscovitch was discovered wrapped in blankets in the medic’s vehicle at the Grey Nuns Hospital, now called the Pasqua Hospital, in Regina, Saskatchewan, on March 23, 1964, he tells PEOPLE.
Moscovitch says that he accidentally discovered he’d been left as a baby while searching the archives at a public library in 1998, before finding an article about a baby who had been abandoned as a newborn.
“I did by total luck find out that I had been found wrapped in a blanket and placed in a paper bag and left in [a] doctor’s car,” he tells PEOPLE. “I found [out] by accident while searching through microfiche at the library. I always [knew] I was adopted, as my adopted parents told me way back when I was a kid.”
However, Moscovitch says he wasn’t aware that he’d been abandoned outside a hospital until discovering the article in question.
He shares, “It was eventually determined that I was that baby in that article from 1964. I always thought [that] because I was adopted, it wouldn’t be hard [to find] my birth parents,” adding that he then realized, “This is not going to be easy.”
“In 2000 there wasn’t much to go on, so even though there was a ton of coverage on my story, no one stepped forward. There [were] no leads to be followed anymore, so my search ended,” Moscovitch says, adding that in 2016 DNA testing improved and he ended up talking to his birth father and half-sister.
Moscovitch recalls, “This contact would then lead me to my birth father, who I found was living in Regina! I jumped in my car right away to see if I could talk to him.”
“He answered the door and he let me in. I told him I was doing some research on the town he used to live in. We talked for a few minutes until I was asked to leave by his sister,” he says.
Moscovitch adds of his birth dad, “He could not remember [who] he was dating back in 1963, so I got no answers on who my birth mother might be. So I found two half-siblings and my birth father, but the most important find would have to be my birth mother.”
While discussing the things he’d love to say to his birth mom if and when he finds her, Moscovitch says one word would suffice: “Thanks.”
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Explaining how he’s since returned to Facebook in a bid to trace his birth mom, Moscovitch tells PEOPLE, “That’s where we are at right at this moment. I understand that we are all getting older and I am hoping my birth mother is alive as well. I wanted to give her one message, and that would be simply, “Thanks,” as it could have turned out a lot worse.”
Moscovitch’s comments come after he recently shared a piece about his story in a local Facebook group, writing, “Every once in a while I post about my story in the hopes that someone remembers something.”
“My birth mother has not been found yet, this is the purpose for this post as I would love to meet her to say thanks as it could have turned out a lot different,” he added in the post.
Moscovitch, who recently told Regina radio station 980 CJME he now has a couple of leads through the genealogy website Ancestry, said of the questions he has for his mom, “I would love to talk to my mother and just see what was going on. What happened that night? Did she drive herself? Did somebody drive her? She just had a baby. I was brand spanking new. I was only a few hours old,” per the outlet.
He shared, “I didn’t think I had much time left to get hold of her. Twenty-five years ago she would have probably been not super old. But, you know, 25 years later, she is going to be very old and I just thought I’d try one more time,” per the station.
Amid the search for his birth family, Moscovitch even appeared on a German talk show in the early 2000s, the outlet noted, after a woman in the country claimed to be his half sister. However, a DNA test then revealed the pair weren’t related.
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