I agree with those who say the evidence is sketchy. On the other hand, based on the information now provided, it is easy for me to imagine either an outright lie or a shading of the truth, probably by someone who both assumed the lie to be harmless and unlikely to be found out/provable. And if saying “I’m sure this kid is Italian” gets the kid adopted into an Italian household, why not say it? (Not saying it should have been said if it wasn’t known to be true. Just saying that I can imagine someone justifying the statement in this manner).
I wouldn’t call it “evidence” at all. The idea that Italians can’t be blond is just ignorant. It’s a little (but not too much) like saying a kid can’t be black because he doesn’t jump high enough.
Absolutely. I know dozens of blonde Italians, and could say that I saw huundreds on TV and in pictures.
I second that. It’s the southern and those from Cicily who are dark.
Like Cicily Tyson?
SORRY
Gaudere’s Law (did I spell that right?)
It’s Cicely Tyson, I believe.
ALSO SORRY
Is Cicely Tyson Sicilian?
If so, you’re both sleepin’ with the fishes, when she finds out 'bout dis.
Ba-da-BING! 
Yes, adoption agencies lie.
Particularly in the past, with closed adoptions, it was very difficult to know the whole truth on adoption - it still sometimes happens.
As was pointed out, very often birth mothers lie. I think today that this is far more common than the agency problem (but the agency problem still may exist) - birthmothers who don’t disclose who the true bio father is. Birthmothers who don’t admit to drinking or drug use during pregnancy, or present themselves to the agency as something they are not.
Finally, I know adoptive parents who have chosen to lie (or at least, not let all the facts be known) to their children. Generally its regarding the circumstances of their birth or adoption. I know adoptive parents who have children born of rape or incest, who have chosen not to let their children know - ever if they can help it. And parents who know their child has bio sibs - but also are choosing not to disclose that.
I’ll add my $0.02 - strawberry-blond, blue-eyed (half) Italian here, and my dad had black hair and brown eyes.
I don’t have any experience with adoption, but I do have experience with mixed genetic backgrounds.
This picture is from my wedding last year. On the left is my best friend, my brother, and my nephew. Best Friend is the mother of the nephew (its a long story). Both sides of the family where shocked when De_Nephew was born. He looks Asian, but as far as we know, the entire family is European/Anglo-Saxon.
De_Nephew is very much my brother’s son. He inherited his paternal grandfather’s (our father) olive skin and dark hair, and sadly, the same jaw defect that I have.
Every person is not made from one half of each parent, but a collection of traits that have been gathered from many people over a long period of time.
I’m sorry, Rilch. Your mom is wrong. Lots of Italians are blonde, as has been mentioned; most Polish people that I know are also quite fair so I don’t know why she’s decided that they’re dark.
Shit. I couldn’t remember and I didn’t have time to look it up. Shit.
Let me add my voice to the chorus. When it comes to European-ancestry mutts like me, you can’t tell anything about my family tree except that I am most likely Caucasian.
This has been an interesting discussion, though, about adoption agencies. It had never occurred to me that they would lie, but I can see why they would, if they expected the records to be closed. Doesn’t make it right - I can just see their justification.
True dat!
My dad and his brother are both 100% Italian going back for generations. Yet my dad has brown eyes, and my uncle’s eyes are blue. I had auburn hair as a wee one (the same color I’ve been artificially recreating since I was 16) and until it darkened, many people assumed I was adopted. Who did it come from? Who says it “came from” anyone? It was light and got dark; it happens. I also lack the upper eyelid fold. Do I have an Asian or Native American ancestor? Do I have to? Just the way my eyes are. (And the reason I can’t wear eyeshadow or contacts.)
Ginger: No, my mom does not think Poles are dark. The light hair was her justification for Mr. Rilch allegedly being Polish. Anyway, as Maven points out, there could have been a Polish antecedent somewhere down the line, or, three months in the sun could have had a bleaching effect.
There is a very good and disturbing book that I read last year : Girls who went away about the real birth mother stories of women who surrendered their babies for adoption in the 40’s-70’s.
Everything that was on the application form about them, essentially, was a lie.
It was so disturbing, that it makes me wonder what is bs on my adoption certificate and really not ever want to go looking to uncover more stuff. My sense of humor has to be British. It is the only thing that makes sense in my life and I shall cling to it with my fingernails if I have too, rather than to find out I am, I dunno. actually from New Jersy, or something. 
I can safely say that I am not black, asian or native american or have any Greek in my DNA. I couldn’t be whiter if I tried. But I did put down on the 2000 census that I was a Hasidic Fiji Islander.
Hijack and related to someone’s post above regarding DNA of the entire family: there was some special or something on possibly the History Channel ( dunno) about a researcher who was tracking down a rare gene that Ghenghis Khan had. ( Don’t know how he found out the Khan had it) but he was a lilly white researcher from the US doing swabs on asians (I want to say Phillipines, but not sure) and how many people he found ( himself included) who were a decendent of good old Ghenghis Khan.
Ghenghis really got around.
Gah, I wish I could be a little less vague.
I should point out that not all Scandinavians are tall and blonde, either. My mom’s parents were Swedish (well, half Swedish in Grandpa’s case) and they were short and dark-haired.
You might be surprised, actually. I would have said the same thing about my dad, but when I was about to get married, he told me that he’s actually 1/16 Cherokee. You would not know that from looking at him, my sister, or me.
In short, ethnic stereotypes are a lousy way of trying to figure out your ancestry.
I would love to see a photo of you now, because I am Italian, Spanish and German and I look Asian too. I HAVE the upper eyelid fold, but it’s very shallow.
My brothers are mostly Italian with a bit of Spanish (we have deifferent fathers.) And while I, the half-German one, am dark and Asian-looking, both my brothers are fair. One’s a blonde with grey eyes, the other is a redhead wth blue eyes and freckles.
Does this help? It’s not the article I read when the news first came out, but it gives the numbers, anyway.
I live in a place that has a high number of Aboriginal Canadians, and it is really amazing who has Aboriginal ancestry and didn’t know it. At this point, practically every white person here can trace their ancestry to one of a few European countries, like my friend, who is Irish and one of the palest people I know and has prominent freckles. She found out she has enough Metis ancestry to get a treaty card. Hell, I can trace my family all the way back to the old country, but I wouldn’t be surprised if I discovered something later…
I know what you mean. My dad’s family was amongst the original settlers of southern Saskatchewan, and while he only claimed English ancestry, he was as dark as most Indians, and most of my sisters and I are dark-haired and -eyed. Hey, maybe if we researched enough, we could get treaty cards!