From Orphanage in Belgium to life in Falmouth!(The Falmouth Enterprise - Falmouth, Massachusetts. Friday, Dec. 19, 2003) Chantal Harris received a wonderful Christmas present this year: a family she never knew she had. Chantal was adopted at the age of three along with her four-year-old brother Frank from an orphanage in Belgium . Now 43, Chantal lives in Falmouth and her brother Francis Leon Hobson, 44, who is known as Frank, now lives in Maine .
Chantal and Frank’s parents were Everett and Mary Hobson. Mr. Hobson and Ms. Hobson both died. Ms. Hobson, who died in June, was also active in the Democratic Party in Falmouth. Chantal’s birth mother, Yvonne Delvaux, who died in 1984, had eight children, all with different fathers whose identities are unknown. She put three of the children up for adoption, including Chantal and Frank. One other child was raised by an aunt, and one was raised by a grandmother. Another one was raised in an orphanage. She kept the two youngest children. Madame Delvaux worked for a time in a bar owned by her aunt in the village of Visé. She lived over the years in several different towns and villages in the south of the country. For Chantal “it’s the best Christmas anyone could ever ask for”. Of finding her siblings, she said, “It’s filling a void I’ve felt since I was young”. The story of Chantal’s adoption seems guided by fate. Everett and Mary Hobson were in the military stationed in Belgium when they decided to adopt a child. Wanting a son, they went to a local orphanage. They were introduced to Francis and agreed to adopt him. A couple of days later, the orphanage officials told the Hobsons that Francis had a sister, Chantal, who was in another wing of the orphanage.
They met Chantal and agreed to adopt her as well. She has not been back to Belgium since she was three years old and returning has been a life-long dream. Chantal, who became an American citizen at the age of five, has now a 20-year old son, Justin P. Harris. Of her new-found family, Chantal said, “ I have so many mixed emotions”. As a child, she said she was always more curious than her brother about their background and her adoption was always at the back of her mind. She said she always wanted to research her family, but never did “for fear of the unknown”. Also, Chantal said, she didn’t want to hurt her mother. Birgit Homblé, whose title is chief editor on the television show, is the one on the show’s staff who receives the letters from people asking to be on the show. Ms. Homblé is also the one who tracks down missing family members.
She received the letter from Chantal’s half-sister Marlene Van Minnebruggen, who said she was adopted from a Belgian orphanage and wondered if she had more brothers and sisters. On November 5, the day after Chantal’s birthday, Ms. Homblé tracked down Chantal and called her, explaining who she was and that Chantal had sisters in Belgium who wanted to reunite with her. Chantal said she never hesitated for a minute to agree to participate in the reunion. Chantal and Frank are the big surprises of the show, Ms. Van Minnebruggen, who began the search, does not know her American siblings have been found. Because the siblings were adopted in different parts of Belgium and the world, they all speak different languages. Marleen speaks Dutch, the other sisters speaks French and Chantal and Francis speak English. Chantal said she has a lot of questions about what her birth mother was like. “It’s going to be interesting, I’m very excited,” she said. “I feel very, very fortunate.” |
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