Adoption In The News: Reunion 63 years later due to Facebook

Happy Friday everyone! Hope you all have great weekend plans with your friends and family.

Helen Torres, an 80 year-old birth mother who made an adoption plan for her first daughter Christina in 1948, believed she would never see her child again. This article by News 10 in Yuba City, California, said that Torres went on to become married and raise five children.

According to the article Torres attempted for years to reconnect with her daughter, as did her children. Finally in January, Torres’ daughter Deneen created a Facebook page in an attempt to find Christine according to the article.

Christine’s parents, who are both deceased, had not told her she was adopted, and Deneen had to convince her they were siblings. Finally convinced, Christine and Helen were reunited in June.

Christine believed she was an only child, and since her adoptive parents are deceased, she has moved to Helen’s hometown to be near her mother, four brothers and sisters, and 11 nieces and nephews according to the article.

Social media can be a great tool for maintaining healthy and ongoing relationships, however it is important to speak with all of your loved ones as well as an adoption counselor before beginning a search. While this story has a happy ending, it is important to think of all of the possible outcomes before beginning a search, and there are times when social media may not be the best way to perform the search.

If you are interested in more information on how the internet has effected child adoption, and ways to maintain a healthy and ongoing relationship via social media, please listen to the Adoption STAR podcast on adoption and social media and read Adoption STAR’s recommended guidelines to social media and adoption.

If you have any other questions, please call the agency or email info@adoptionstar.com.