Although I am not a twin, I've had a lifelong fascination with twins and want to learn more about them. I think what fascinates me most about twins is the "twin bond" that they have. It's like a psychic connection. I've heard stories of twins having conversations with each other in their sleep, or one knowing when the other was in trouble and calling or showing up just in the nick of time. I would love to hear from twins and other multiples who have similar bonds.
In 1981 I read about a 1965 "nature vs. nurture" research project conducted by psychiatrists Peter Neubauer and Viola Bernard. For this study, five sets of twins and triplets were separated and offered for adoption from Louise Wise Services. The parents were never told that the children they were adopting had identical siblings. The children were then studied like lab rats from 1965 to 1980. There were no laws prohibiting the separation of twins back then. It wasn't until 1981 that the State of New York began requiring adoption agencies to keep siblings together. In 1998 the International Society for Twin Studies proclaimed the right of twins and multiples to be reared together. If you were involved in the twin study, please share your story with me.
Follow these links to learn more about the study:
In 1981 I read about a 1965 "nature vs. nurture" research project conducted by psychiatrists Peter Neubauer and Viola Bernard. For this study, five sets of twins and triplets were separated and offered for adoption from Louise Wise Services. The parents were never told that the children they were adopting had identical siblings. The children were then studied like lab rats from 1965 to 1980. There were no laws prohibiting the separation of twins back then. It wasn't until 1981 that the State of New York began requiring adoption agencies to keep siblings together. In 1998 the International Society for Twin Studies proclaimed the right of twins and multiples to be reared together. If you were involved in the twin study, please share your story with me.
Follow these links to learn more about the study:
Among those involved in the study were identical New York triplets Eddy Galland of New Hyde Park, Robert Shafran of Scarsdale and David Kellman of Howard Beach. They reunited at age 19 when Robert Shafran enrolled at Sullivan County Community College in Loch Sheldrake, N.Y., in 1980 and everyone thought he was Eddy Galland, who had been enrolled there the previous semester. When David Kellman, a student at Queens College, saw their story in the newspapers, he realized he looked just like them and contacted them.
After reuniting, the triplets discovered they had been unwilling participants in a scientific study and expressed their outrage in several newspaper and magazine articles. They appeared on several talk shows and in the movie "Desperately Seeking Susan" and the TV sitcom "Cheers." They all got jobs as waiters at Sammy's Roumanian Steakhouse in New York's Lower East Side. Then they founded Triplets Roumanian Steakhouse in Manhattan. Sadly, Eddy Galland committed suicide in 1995 at his Maplewood, NJ home, leaving behind his wife and young daughter. I've never been able to find out why he killed himself. Was he still angry and depressed about being part of an experiment? Was he having trouble adjusting to his new identity as a triplet?
Now Robert Shafran is an attorney in Brooklyn, NY. David Kellman is an independent insurance agent in East Brunswick, NJ. He continued to own and operate Triplets Roumanian Steakhouse until 2000. Somewhere along the way its name was changed to Triplets Old New York Steakhouse.
Louise Wise Adoption Agency, a.k.a. Louise Wise Services, was founded in 1916 by Louise Waterman Wise. It was first known as the Free Synagogue Child Adoption Committee. At that time, adoption among Jews was rare. Louise Wise was married to Rabbi Stephen Wise. She co-founded the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and led the liberal American Jewish Congress, and felt it was important to find homes for Jewish orphans. Her daughter, Judge Justine Polier, assumed control of the agency in 1944. Polier's friend, Viola Bernard, theorized that twins would fare better if they were separated. Her study was titled The Child Development Center's Study of Twins Reared Apart, 1953-1997. The archives for the study were donated to Yale University's library and sealed until 2066. Bernard's own vast archives are housed at the Columbia University Health Sciences Library, and are sealed until 2021.
Twins Elyse Schein and Paula Bernstein were among the children placed for adoption at Louise Wise Services, but although they were separated as infants they were not involved in the study conducted by the psychiatrists. In 2007 they published their book Identical Strangers: A Memoir of Twins Separated and Reunited (Random House). They did a lot of research into the twin study and actually got to discuss it with Dr. Neubauer, who conveniently blamed Viola Bernard for the whole thing.
Twins Elyse Schein and Paula Bernstein were among the children placed for adoption at Louise Wise Services, but although they were separated as infants they were not involved in the study conducted by the psychiatrists. In 2007 they published their book Identical Strangers: A Memoir of Twins Separated and Reunited (Random House). They did a lot of research into the twin study and actually got to discuss it with Dr. Neubauer, who conveniently blamed Viola Bernard for the whole thing.
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