NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — A Wilmington, North Carolina man who is looking for birth parents from Newport News is getting a wave of support online.
He knows this: He was born in the Virginia city on Aug. 16, 1992, and was adopted through Catholic Charities of Eastern Virginia about two weeks later.
Josh Wright's wife, Samantha, shared a post about his hopes to find his biological family on Thursday. Since then, it's been shared hundreds of times.
"I wasn't expecting that at all. I guess people are really interested to help," he said. "It shows people really care. Like honestly, I didn't think people would interact so much with my wife, trying to help."
The 30-year-old foreclosure and affidavit paralegal said he's known he was adopted since he was seven or eight years old. He thinks his birth parents were in high school when they gave him up.
His adoptive mom also told him she thinks he has an older brother, but there are few details about who he is or where he lives.
"That intrigues me a lot because I have a son now," he said. "I would love to meet them any way possible."
He was raised as an only child, so the thought of a brother is particularly special.
"I could meet him, follow him, if he looks like me, that would be surreal," Wright said.
He's tried a few methods to look for his family. Wright said a few years ago, he got a 23andMe.
"I didn't know anything about my genes, or anything like that, and I was about to have a baby, so I wanted to know," he said. "On 23andMe, I found a few distant cousins, but not a high percentage."
There are a few other methods he's thinking about trying, before paying the search fee through his adoption agency.
"Best case scenario for me is, I want them to know that I'm not mad at them, I love them, I hope they're doing well, and I want them to know that I'm doing well, too."
He said he hopes to catch them up on his life, from kindergarten to now.
"My biggest message is: It's all love. I love you. There's no hate in my heart. I know they were young and they did what was right -- she did what was right for her, and there's no hard feelings," he said. "To my brother, I love you, and I hope we can catch up."
