Abandoned At Birth: LI Woman Reunites With Man Who Saved Her

It was 49 years ago today that Long Island resident Susan Akie-Mote was found as an infant by a 16-year-old boy on his way to school.

However, it was only a few weeks ago that the two were reunited.

The Shirley resident had been looking for her biological parents on and off for several years since her 20s.

She didn't even really think about her birth family until she discovered she had a thyroid problem and found it was a hereditary disease.

"From that moment I really need to pursue trying to find her because if I have other problems I need to know," she said. "These are important things to know."

That's when she really began to look for her mother.

"There was a time of my life I was completely blank -- I knew nothing," she said. "I didn't know what I looked like as an infant, I don't know anything medically, I don't know anything about my biological parents, I don't even know where my name came from!"

What she did know is that she was "front page news" when she was a baby because she was abandoned shortly after she was born in a field in Bridgeport, Conn.

So she began her search to see if she could find her records, but what she didn't expect to find was that 16-year-old boy who found her back in 1968.

During a Google search with her best friend one night, Mote discovered an article from the Bridgeport Telegram about her which listed Robert Halstead as the young teenager who found her.

She then went on Facebook to search his name and messaged two different "Robert Halstead" profiles that were listed.

The first one ended up not being the real Halstead but much to Mote's surprise, the second one was.

"Finding Bob was such a blessing," she said. "I wasn't even looking for him."

She found out that Halstead still lived in Bridgeport and his mother still lived in the same home he took Mote after he found her.

This led to a reunion between the two when Mote went to visit Halstead and his family in Conneticut earlier this month.

"As excited as I was to meet them, they were twice as excited to meet me," she said. "I was at a loss for words meeting him. It was the best feeling in the world to meet this man who basically saved my life."

During the trip, Halstead was able to tell Mote things about her childhood she never knew before.

"All the information we had -- that my parents had -- was wrong," she said. "So when I met Bob and his family they were able to tell me everything. Finding Bob was a miracle."

Originally, Mote's mother had told her that she was discovered at a post office and that the post man found her when he was opening up -- which wasn't true.

What really happened was that Halstead was walking to school after missing his ride on that cold October day. He was going up the main road where there was a mailbox and nothing else. That day however, there was also a hat box containing baby Mote.

Halstead said he thought she was a doll, until she started to move. He then went home to get his mother and the two took her back to their home.

His mother then called her friend, who was a nurse, and took care of her until an ambulance arrived.

Halstead then went to school and tried to explain the reason why he was late, but since he was always late, nobody believed he found a baby on the side of the road.

Mote also discovered another fact about herself she never knew -- how she got her name.

"I always thought I got my name from my foster mother but that wasn't the case," she said. She was actually named by the nurses at the hospital where she stayed for 10 days.

Halstead then showed her several news articles he saved that had photos of her as an infant.

"I was just blown away because I never knew what I looked like," Mote said. "I was so excited to see that's what my children look like."

Her children all had red hair as a baby and she never knew where that came from until she saw the photos and saw that she had red hair as a baby as well.

She was then adopted at a year and a day old and has basically lived on Long Island her whole life.

"I live right across the [Long Island] Sound. I never went far," she said.

Halstead told Mote that he was worried about she turned out, but she said she turned out great.

"I lived a wonderful life, I have wonderful parents, I had a wonderful childhood, I have a wonderful adulthood I have wonderful kids -- I have no regrets whatsoever that I was abandoned," she said. "My life hasn't been perfect, but for me it has been amazing."

Mote also says she has no animosity toward her biological parents for leaving her.

"I'm sure there was a reason that she left me and that she made sure that she left me somewhere where someone could find me and she kept me warm because it was cold," she said.

As glad as Mote was that she found Halstead, she is still on the search for her biological mother.

She believes her mother lived in the small town near the mailbox where she was found and hid her pregnancy through baggy clothes.

"At this point if I don't find my biological mother, I'll be okay," she said. "At this point I've been okay for 49 years not finding her. If I found her now I would give her a big hug and tell her thank you, let her know I'm not mad at all for any of the decisions she made. I just want to know the next part of the story."She says that she imagines how tough it was for her mother to make the decision to give up her baby and feels bad for her.

"In 1968 nobody helped you if you were pregnant, it was taboo," she said.

Mote says that for those who have been adopted, she knows they might be angry but her advice is to see her biological parents' side of the story.

"You need to be open-minded, you need to let go of whatever anger you have and just embrace it," she said. "It's been a wonderful, wonderful experience and you have to take it for what it is, you only have one life so why waste it being angry?"

Despite not finding her biological family, Mote says she found a second family in Halstead and his family.

"They made me feel so welcome," she said. "It feels like I've known them forever."

Photos courtesy of Susan Akie-Mote