Facebook reunites mother and daughter after 63 years
An 80-year-old woman who was forced to give up her baby daughter for adoption in 1948 has been reunited with her child - thanks to Facebook. Her family used Facebook to trace the daughter, Christina.17 years old
Helen Torres was 17 years old in 1948, when she became pregnant and was sent to a home for unwed mothers. When she gave birth to Christina she was forced to hand her to a couple that had the means to take care of the baby.
Helen did attempt to stay in the child’s life from a distance for the next 12 years, but lost track of her over time.
Helen went on to get married and had five more children.
After Helen told her children that they had a sister, the youngest child, Deneen, attempted to track down Christina through public records.
Facebook group
However, this proved unsuccessful, so Deneen collected all the photos and other information about Christina to create a Facebook group about her in late January. The title of the group was “Searching for my sister, Mary Christine Bustamante (Gray) DOB 3/8/1948″. Deneen also included details about the parents that adopted Christina.
In April 2011, Deneen was contacted on Facebook by a now 63-year old Chris Gray, living only 70 miles east of the family in Riverside, California.
Never told
Ms. Gray was shocked to learn that she was adopted as her now-deceased parents never told her of the adoption.
Emotional meeting
In June 2011, Helen Torres and Chris Gray finally met. After a tearful reunion, Ms. Gray also met her siblings as well as nieces and nephews. Without siblings when she was growing up, Ms. Gray has decided to move closer to her newly found family in Yuba City, California.
Read more at: digitaltrends.com