2 Families Adopt Romanian Children, Find Out They're Brothers

AP , Associated Press

Nov. 5, 1991 10:33 AM ET

NORCROSS, GA. NORCROSS, Ga. (AP) _ Two families who live only 11 miles apart went to Romania at different times to adopt little boys - and wound up with brothers.

Tony Szuminski of Lawrenceville said that when he first saw his prospective adoptive son, 1-year-old Anthony, in Romania in March, he thought of someone he already knew.

''He looks just like Danny and Krista's little boy,'' Szuminski said, referring to Daniel and Krista Lay of Norcross and their adopted son, 3-year- old Sam, who was brought to the United States in January.

Then the biological father of the boy the Szuminskis were about to adopt proudly announced that his other son was living in the United States - in Georgia.

Adoption papers produced by the boys' mother confirmed that the Szuminskis were about to adopt Sam's younger brother.

After the Szuminskis returned home, they called the Lays, who they had met in 1990 while meeting with adoptive parents of Romanian children.

''When the Szuminskis called us, Danny yelled for me to get on the other phone, and Kathy (Szuminski) said, 'You're not going to believe this, you better sit down, but we have adopted Sam's little brother,' and I just started crying. I just couldn't believe it,'' Mrs. Lay said.

''You just don't travel around the world and end up in the same tiny apartment and adopt a child from the same family. We may not know why this has happened, but we know there's a reason for this,'' said Szuminski.

The families plan to let the two blond toddlers visit each other as they grow up.

''I'm very comfortable with them knowing they're brothers,'' Mrs. Lay said.

The Szuminskis said they had been on an adoption waiting list for four years before deciding to try Romania.

''When we saw (Anthony's mother) in court she was trying to give him away. He was starving to death for food and attention,'' Mrs. Szuminski said, adding that the 1-year-old child could not sit up without support and weighed only 14 pounds.

After the collapse of the Romanian dictatorship almost two years ago, thousands of couples went to Romania seeking to adopt abandoned and orphaned children. The old regime of Nikolae Ceausescu had banned birth control and abortion.