His birth mother called to reject a couple's adoption bid. Their voicemail greeting changed her mind
Without hesitation, she left her final instruction: 'Come pick up your kid'
Some things in life are meant to be, no matter how impossible the odds seem. When a Texas mother dialed a woman to say she was not going ahead with her adoption plea, she expected a polite, final rejection. But the phone went straight to her voicemail. What the birth mom heard was an unscripted moment — a husband tickling his wife, and her infectious laughter taking over the greeting. Hearing their joy, the birth mother made a decision that changed her son's life forever. That boy grew up to be actor Owen Thiele, who later shared this story on the Sorry We're Cyrus (@SorryWereCyrus) podcast on September 17, 2026, garnering over 22,000 views.
The long wait
Before Thiele entered the picture, his adoptive parents, music producer Bob Thiele Jr. and Amy Kanter, had spent months navigating the complex world of domestic agencies. They registered on a waiting roster, hoping to welcome an infant into their home soon. "So, my mom and dad were part of an adoption search; they were trying to adopt," Thiele recalled. He noted how much emotional weight hung on being matched with an expectant parent. However, unfortunately, things weren't going as planned, because Thiele's biological mother wanted someone close by to adopt him.
The geography problem
In fact, Thiele's mom wanted someone based in Texas. She wished to place her newborn with a family in her own area to keep open channels for contact down the road. So, because his adoptive parents did not fit that geographic preference, their profile was about to be turned down. "My birth mom really wanted someone local, someone in Texas, someone who she could maybe have a relationship with," he noted. Nonetheless, she wanted to close the chapter on good terms, and so she picked up her phone to deliver the bad news directly rather than letting the agency handle it.
A wholesome sign
Thiele's mom viewed the gesture as a polite sign-off after passing on their portfolio. "Eventually my birth mom called my mom, I think, as a courtesy to be like, 'I'm kind of going in a different direction here,'" he explained. However, when his adoptive mom didn't answer, the call went to voicemail, leading to an unexpected moment. Rather than a formal greeting, the cassette captured an unedited sound clip. In it, Thiele's father could be heard tickling his mother as she giggled her way through the instructions.
That short greeting was all Thiele's biological mother saw as a sign. She scrapped her local criteria and delivered the good news. "My birth mom was like, 'I need my son to be filled with laughter and joy, and I want him to be around... support and love,'" Thiele recounted. Without hesitation, she left her final instruction: "Come pick up your kid."
A Black boy with Jewish parents
With the paperwork finalized at birth, the couple finally brought him home to California. Growing up as a Black boy raised by white Jewish parents in Beverly Hills brought its own nuances and humorous identity lessons, which Thiele is now adapting into a television project. His adoption story, meanwhile, sheds light on the prevalence of open adoptions in the U.S.A. According to a Creating a Family study, 55% of adoption parents and birth parents shared their information. Meanwhile, 40% had contact mediated by agencies. Only 5% of adoptions were closed ones.
'What a beautiful story'
This story also struck a chord with many people, as they took to the comments under a post by @sorrywerecyrus to share their views. @binbean8 wrote, "What a beautiful story. His birth mother really loved him and knew what she had to do to give him a good life." Meanwhile, @sanaa.altaf pointed out, "I love how he said 'my birth mom' and 'my mom' because you don't have to give birth to be a parent to someone!"
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