IRELAND
Irish Times
Michelle McDonagh
Don Stiffe knew from an early age that he was adopted but while he had always been curious about his birth family, it was not until he was in his late 40s and a father himself that he took the decision to search for his birth mother.
That search was to prove far more torturous than the award-winning singer songwriter could ever have imagined. He did manage to find out who his birth mother but never got to meet her – by the time he discovered her identity, she had been dead two years.
However, Don also learned that he was one of nine children born to his mother, and through his unrelenting search, he has been reunited with some of his siblings. His story mirrors the storyline of the Bafta award-winning movie Philomena – Philomena Lee even plays a part in his tale.
Don Stiffe (now 50) was adopted from the Sean Ross Abbey mother and baby home in Roscrea, Co Tipperary, by Margaret and Dominic Stiffe, who brought him to live in Cooke’s Terrace, Bohermore, when he was three and a half months old.
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