Woman searching for birth parents discovers dad was a Facebook friend
An adopted woman from Georgia went on a mission to find her birth parents, eventually discovering that she had been Facebook friends with her biological father for years.
According to a BBC report, journalist Tamuna Museridze decided to find her biological parents in 2016 when the woman who raised her died.
Tamuna suspected that she was adopted when she found a birth certificate while cleaning up, bearing her name but indicating a different birth date.
The 40-year-old then set up a Facebook group named Vedzeb, or “I’m Searching” as a platform to reunite other families, while also hoping to find her own birth parents.
“I was a journalist on this story, but it was a personal mission for me as well,” she told the outlet.
She later received a message from a member of the group claiming that she knew Tamuna’s mother. The member said her aunt concealed her pregnancy and had given birth in September 1984, which was around the time of her real birthdate.
The two agreed to have a DNA test, which confirmed that Tamuna and the Facebook user were first cousins and that the latter’s aunt was her biological mother.
However, Tamuna’s attempt to reconnect with her birth mother did not go well.
“She started screaming, shouting—she said she hadn’t given birth to a child. She didn't want anything to do with me,” Tamuna told the BBC. “I was ready for anything, but her reaction was beyond anything I could imagine,” she added.
Despite their interaction, Tamuna was able to convince her birth mother to give the name of her biological dad, which is Gurgen Khorava.
She later tried to find Gurgen on Facebook, where she eventually discovered that they had been Facebook friends for three years and that he had been following her story on social media.
"[He had] been [on] my friend list for three years,” Tamuna told the outlet. "He didn’t even know my birth mother had been pregnant. It was a huge surprise for him,” he added.
The two later had their much-awaited reunion in Gurgen’s hometown.
“It was strange — the moment he looked at me, he knew that I was his daughter. I had so many mixed emotions,” she recalled.
Tamuna also discovered that her birth parents were not in a relationship then and had only had a brief encounter.
After finding out she was pregnant, her biological mother chose to hide her pregnancy due to shame and had Tamuna adopted 10 days after giving birth.
During their interaction, Tamuna shared that her birth mom asked her to lie about their story and tell people instead that she had been stolen.
“She told me that if I would not say that I was stolen, everything would end between us… and I said that I couldn’t do that,” Tamuna said. “If I lie, nobody's going to believe those mothers anymore,” she added.
