A software salesman in Philadelphia was surprised to see himself on a missing children’s website. At 35 years old, he couldn’t believe that he was still considered “missing” after having been adopted more than 30 years ago. Steven Carter was adopted when he was 4-years-old from an orphanage in Hawaii. In an interview he gave to Fox News this morning, he said that his mother was considered a “free spirit” and was known for wandering. Carter’s biological mother, Charlotte Moriarty, never married his biological father and often traveled freely with her infant son, without letting anyone know where she was.
Carter’s biological father, Mark Barnes, currently lives in California and has two daughters with his ex-wife.
According to Fox News, the case was opened after Carter’s biological mother was found in Hawaii squatting in a house she wasn’t supposed to be in. When police found her, they admitted her to a mental institution after she was unable to answer basic questions. She gave police a fake name for her and her infant son and the wrong birth date for Carter. That incident is what began Carter’s entrance into the foster care system and ultimately an orphanage where he was adopted several years later.
Carter’s father says he tried looking for his son for years but police were unable to trace him, given the false information his mother provided. Carter’s biological mother has not yet been found, leaving Carter a little disappointed, but he says he has a supportive wife and friends and a wonderful adoptive family whom he loves. In fact, Carter’s adoptive mother, Victoria Carter, helped Carter put all the pieces together and figure out that the missing child was in fact him.