Cathie Grissell was left as a baby in a box at Bankstown Hospital, 55 years on, she’s met her siblings
Cathie Grissell was left on the steps of a hospital as a newborn baby. After more than 50 years, she found her four siblings for the first time. See their incredible meeting on video.
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Exclusive: A newborn baby who was abandoned in a cardboard box on the steps of Bankstown Hospital more than five decades ago has finally found her family.
Cathie Grissell, 55, said she’s always wondered who placed her there on that August day in 1969. Was she wrapped in a blanket? Was there a note? Why was she given up?
Remarkably Cathie, an operating theatre nurse from Brisbane, has only recently discovered she has three full biological siblings. Their physical similarities are striking and their love for each other is undeniable.
In Kyeemagh, in Sydney’s south, a heartwarming meeting kicked off 2025. After more than 50 years, the four siblings came together for the first time.
See the video above.
When Cathie decided to take a DNA test to find her heritage late last year, she was almost too frightened to click on the results in her inbox. Fear took over. She had to ask herself: did she really want to open this door?
She was left stunned with the Ancestry.com results. Suddenly she learnt she had a younger brother, James Papas, and an older sister, Maria Pittas. Both were also put up for adoption at birth.
Four years earlier, Maria, 57, had embarked on her own search, and discovered a DNA sibling match with James. Maria reached out to her younger brother but he didn’t reply – a brutal fact they now laugh about.
“True story”, the siblings joke.
“I just let it go, until four years later I got a message from Cathie. It just threw me, it was unbelievable,” Maria said.
She said she had butterflies and was shaking before they all met.
“You always think you’re the only one”, she said while wiping away tears.
James explained why he never replied to Maria’s initial message in 2019.
“At first, I was a little bit sceptical. I must admit I thought it was a bit suss,” he said.
But when Cathie reached out to both James and Maria in 2024, he did reply – and his message delivered another surprise.
“Hi sis. I was adopted 1970, and my full blood sister Debbie in 1971. So you both have another sister as well if you didn’t already know. Shock …”
James said that when he first saw photographs of his missing sisters, he instantly knew they were family.
“I thought – shit, wow. What a resemblance. I couldn’t believe it. Maria looks just like me and Cathie looks just like Deb. They didn’t have to show me any sort of DNA proof. I could just see that they were mine,” James said.
He and Debbie grew up together in Blacktown, in Sydney’s west, raised by their “beautiful” adoptive parents, Sophie and George Papas.
James was adopted at birth, and the following year, Mr and Mrs Papas were told James’ birth mother was pregnant again and they were asked if they would like to adopt that baby too. They didn’t hesitate. They wanted James to grow up with his sister.
When James and Debbie were old enough to be told about their adoption, they believed they were the result of unplanned pregnancies. The pair never imagined other siblings would turn up one day.
“We didn’t think that our biological parents would have made this mistake more than twice. So we didn’t bother trying to find any more (siblings). Now to learn that mum and dad did this four times, it’s a little bit … sort of … wow,” James said.
The remarkable discovery prompted the four siblings to meet in person, with Cathie travelling from Brisbane and Maria driving from Canberra to join Debbie and James in Sydney.
James came down from Newcastle for the occasion, but meeting two “bonus” sisters was emotional, he said. The prospect was daunting and he thought about running.
“It’s a little bit surreal for me at the moment. It’s mixed emotions. I’m excited. I’m nervous. I’m anxious. It’s lots of things. Just butterflies,” James said just before the meeting.
But a brotherly instinct kicked in.
“I will protect them for the rest of their lives, no matter what,” he said.
“I know there’s distance between us, but I hope that we could be together and visit each other very regularly and be a part of our lives. Not just texting and that sort of stuff. I’d like to be in their lives.”
Seconds after Cathie and James embraced for the first time, they looked into each other’s eyes and knew they were blood. They all wept as they hugged and marvelled at their faces and existence.
All four siblings were amazed to learn they shared the same biological mother and father – although their identity remains a mystery. The four have mixed feelings about searching for their birth parents, as none of them know the circumstances which led to them being adopted.
James and Debbie were born at Sydney’s Crown Street Women’s hospital, and Maria was born at the nearby St Margaret’s in Darlinghurst, both of which were notorious for forced adoptions – the practice of taking newborns from unmarried mothers and placing them with new families.
In 1968, almost two in three children born at Crown Street (64 per cent) were forcibly taken from their mothers, according to a 2012 Commonwealth Senate Inquiry.
By the 1960s, the practice was “systemic,” according to the report of the inquiry.
The siblings don’t know if they were victims of forced adoption, or even if their parents are still alive – but whatever the circumstances, they don’t harbour any anger.
“We just hope they’re at peace with their decisions and they were able to have a peaceful life”, said Cathie.
She knows little about her abandonment shortly after birth in 1969, although her placement in that cardboard box outside Bankstown Hospital suggests whoever left her wanted her to be found and cared for.
All four siblings said they feel blessed they were raised by wonderful and nurturing parents. And they can’t wait for everyone to meet their big and beautiful families.
Discovering each other has been another blessing, the four said.
“To find out you’ve got three full siblings after 55 years of never knowing blood, it is the most amazing feeling,” said Cathie.
A ‘MACHINE’ TO TAKE BABIES AWAY
Between 1893 and its closure in 1983, Sydney’s Crown Street Women’s hospital was the site of several medical breakthroughs, including effective treatments for eclampsia and research into the link between thalidomide and birth defects.
But it was also infamous as a place where forced adoption practices were rife.
Statewide, it’s been estimated more than 36,000 children were taken from their mothers between 1965 and 1975.
In a Daily Telegraph report in 2010, psychiatrist Dr Geoffrey Rickarby described the hospital as a “machine” to take babies away from their mothers.
“(Mothers) were drugged silly and, immediately after the birth, the baby was taken,” he said. “The mothers had their faces covered so they could not form a bond with the child. At some hospitals the girls were tied to the bed. Most women never quite came to terms with what happened.”
In March 2013, then Prime Minister Julia Gillard apologised on behalf of the Australian Government to people affected by forced adoption.
“The consequences … continue to resonate through many, many lives,” the apology stated. “To you, the siblings, grandparents, partners and other family members who have shared in the pain and suffering of your loved ones or who were unable to share their lives, we say sorry.”
This reporter can be reached at ashlea.hansen@news.com.au
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Originally published as Cathie Grissell was left as a baby in a box at Bankstown Hospital, 55 years on, she’s met her siblings
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