When This Couple Heard A Child Was Dumped, The Wife Said, “I Bet That’s Our Baby”

darlene and ron lichtness were in a car on a summer's day in 1968 suddenly a story on the radio caught their attention on the steps of a minneapolis church an abandoned baby had been found by the church janitor then with tears in her eyes darlene nudged her husband and said i bet you that's our baby it was july 7th 1968 and darlene and ron were traveling with their four biological children when they heard the news story and it seemed to affect darlene profoundly though she knew nothing about the baby she felt that she had to adopt him into the family the baby nicknamed baby john doe was left abandoned on the hard steps of mount olive lutheran church in minneapolis minnesota it was in the early hours of a sunday that the baby was found the infant was wrapped in just a few sheets of newspaper the baby was only hours old when he was found by a church janitor the janitor believes that the baby was in fact lucky to survive in a newspaper article published the following day he was quoted as saying i was happy to find him because if the dogs had come he might have been killed the origins of the baby were never discovered and all that darlene and ron knew of the abandoned infant was what they had heard on the radio and read in the press nevertheless darlene strongly believed that the baby should become part of their family when darlene saw the child she was smitten and it would be the beginning of their life together in an interview with care 11 she said he had all this curly hair he looked like he didn't have a clue what was going on just that little expression on his face she was so taken with the baby that there was one factor that she completely overlooked while the couple were white the baby was mixed race as ron told care11 i just thought it was so neat that this was our baby wow it felt good i never thought of skin color no it was never a thought he was our child and just because they wanted him didn't necessarily mean that they could have him it was 1968 after all and although the supreme court had declared segregation and unconstitutional that year it would be a further two years before it was made illegal darlene then must have faced an uphill battle to bring what she believed to be her baby home darlene and ron however were undeterred skin color simply wasn't an issue for them all that motivated them was the love that they had for the child who had captured their hearts though she wasn't the woman who gave birth to him darlene wanted to be the one to give the boy to be named dan a happy life darlene and ron never made it a secret that dan was adopted indeed it's not a fact that they could really hide realizing that he was different to his siblings at a young age dan explained to kare 11 i knew at three years old it's like how come i'm dark and they explained to me right away the likens family however is built on love and acceptance as well as dan who is of mixed race they adopted another son who was african-american both adoptions occurred through the lutheran social services of minnesota the mission of which has been to make life better for the state citizens since 1865. it's a pledge that darlene and ron were committed to in raising their two adopted sons alongside their four biological children and although his adoptive parents were always open and honest about his start in life the only other details that dan knows about his origins are what was written in the newspapers in 1968 what's more dan still has a newspaper clipping from one of his reports published the day after he was found in one image of the piece he's shown being cradled by a nurse meanwhile the words of the janitor who found him that he might have died had he not been found resonate with the now 48 year old that statement has been one of my drives for life dan told care11 i've been very fortunate my whole family made sure i knew where i came from indeed his race and identity may not have been an issue growing up his mom believes however that his abandonment might have been i think dan struggled with his being left on a church step darlene told care11 it would be a tough start in life for anyone to deal with however 48 years later an eerily similar incident would occur as history seemingly repeated itself in january 2017. on the evening of january 4th a janitor from the cathedral of saint paul was locking up for the evening he saw what he thought was a basket of dirty clothes which he assumed belonged to a churchgoer and he carried on with his chores however when he returned the basket was still there the janitor approached the basket and heard a whimpering noise which he imagined might have been a dog's wine when he lifted the covering however he instead found a baby when dan heard the report of the abandoned child he found that it resonated with him it was almost exactly the same as his own story after all my first reaction was that i knew it was going to touch danny his mom told kare11 but it touched dan in a more profound way than merely reminding him of his past much like how his mom had felt upon hearing about baby john doe on the radio that day dan himself felt a connection to the abandoned child with his girlfriend's support dan dreamed of adopting this child and dan now sees his start in life as a display of love he was abandoned in the one place that he would be safe he goes back to the church annually to leave flowers there on his birthday my family is incredible dan explained to kare11 i'm the one still searching for greatness perhaps he believes that his true moment will come with adopting this baby as he explains it's how you overcome the difference that makes a person i believe if you do good good will come back