The following was enclosed in a letter dated March 19, 1987 from Family and Children's Services of Catholic Charities in Sturbridge, MA. If you can help identify the persons mentioned, please contact AreYouMyMother@AndrewBal.com. You can also follow @AreYouMyMother on Twitter.

It should be noted that Andrew was born in the early morning hours of May 25, 1985 and was given the name Andrew by his adoptive parents, not his birth mother. It is believed that his birth mother had him baptized with the name David.

"Andrew's birth mother came to the agency through the Family Life Center, when she was 5 weeks pregnant. She is a capable, intelligent, resourceful young woman, who takes friends into confidence easily. She tended to make decisions on the impulse of the moment. She has a strong family, community support systems, close to church and co-workers. She is strong willed. Her style was to be occasionally intimate as a way of expressing caring and trust in friendships. She was the eldest of six children and a college graduate. At the time of her pregnancy she was working as a teacher's aid

"A talented and enthusiastic young woman she was inexperienced in dating and naive about men. She had known the father of Andrew in a platonic friendship through her younger years. They became reacquainted in the summer following her college graduation. She became his confidante when he was having trouble in his marriage. She perceived their brief sexual encounter as an expression of comfort to him. From first contact with the agency she expressed the sense that adoption was best for the baby as she wished to keep secret the identity of the father who had been considered by her parents to be unstable person with a tendency toward delinquent behavior. She made some very mature and responsible decisions during pregnancy including ending her CCD teaching in a timely fashion, working for a time to continue paying her bills, attending childbirth classes with her mother as a coach, and living at Marillac in the last month of gestation to be near the medical team of her pregnancy. She bonded with the baby in utero, making the decision more heart-wrenching birth. She did name him and decided everyone in the immediate family should interact with him. She did place him in foster care to facilitate a more objective decision about whether to surrender. She chose not to visit with him again. It was important to her to attend the baptism to witness his spiritual birth as she had given him his physical life. She also participated in the Marrillac group experience to search out other person who had similar experience, especially hoping to deal with her question regarding the long term consequences of the decision for adoption.She found some resolution through a male friend she acquired in the summer theater production she joined. He had been an alleged father and had not been to see his baby or to participate in counseling so he was empathetic and supportive. Slowly she came to her decision through friendship, weekly counseling and by writing a letter to her baby. The letter took several drafts and tears to shed. She had been clear that she could take the baby at any point prior to surrender and that she was a capable parent figure. She decided that the circumstances under which she would have to work and house him, etc would not afford her the time to spend with him or the resources to provide adequately. She surrendered with sadness and the expectation that she could pass on gifts to the baby and the adoptive family, meaning hospital birth pictures and Christmas stocking hand made by jer mother which is a family tradition.

"Andrew's father cooperated in acknowledging paternity and in signing the surrender for adoption. He said if his son ever needed medical help, such as a transplant, he would be available. He did call to inquire about Andrew's new adoptive parents, was pleased with what he heard.

"Birth Mother:

- 22 years old

- 5' 4" 140 lbs

- Brown hair, brown eyes

- Medium complexion

- Irish, English, Russian

- Bachelor of science

- teachers aid

- Animated cherry, shy, sensitive, intelligent

- Enjoyed singing, piano, theater, arts, visual aesthetics

- Dust and pollen allergies, outgrew animal allergy

"Birth Father:

- 26 years old

- 5' 10" 195 lbs

- Blonde hair, hazel eyes

- fair, reddened complexion

- German, German, French, Irish, Danish

- HS graduate

- Maintenance school department

- Appears slow, dull, cautious, guarded, self-protective

- Gifted in manual skills

- Good health"