Kirk Franklin, a Grammy-winning gospel musician, has been joyfully reunited with his biological father, Richard Hubbard, after a remarkable 53-year absence.
Franklin was adopted at the age of four by a woman from his church in Fort Worth, Texas. He believes his birth mother was a teen who lacked the financial means to raise him, leading to her decision to abandon him. Franklin considers this emotional meeting to be a watershed moment in his life.
Though grateful for everything his adoptive mother accomplished for him as a child, he thought there was a gap in his upbringing at some time. According to People, despite her best efforts as a widow, Franklin remembered how she battled to provide for him and even made sacrifices for his piano lessons while relying on government assistance.
He went on to say that as he approached the age of 12 or 13, he began to feel abandoned, as if he had become more of a burden to her. His desire for independence, like that of many other youths who went on dates, played on him, heightening his sensation of dislocation at the time.
Franklin discovered a man he thought was his biological father when he was six years old. His biological mother made the introduction. Because he grew up without a father, he claimed the meeting left him angry and conflicted.
“I didn’t see him again until I was 13 and then he started showing up at concerts after my first album came out,” he said to People. “I was angry at the fact that I did not have a father and he would dare show up once my life seemed to have some sense of order. Same for my biological mother.”
He claimed he still has conflicting feelings knowing that his father lived in the same city as him all these years he desired parental advice. He claimed that his search for his biological father, Hubbard, had a huge impact on his parental love, connection, faith, and identity. He was relieved that the clue to his identification had been discovered so close to him.
His adoptive mother, on the other hand, has not exhibited the same level of relief. She is adamant that Hubbard is not Franklin’s biological father, and Franklin has had no contact with her since the second paternity test established Hubbard’s link with him.