“An incredible moment”: Sisters share how they found each after 17-year search
<p dir="ltr">Two sisters who were separated after they were given up for adoption have opened up about their emotional reunion more than 25 years later and the 17-year search they went through to find each other.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Laurinda and Ashleigh were born in the Dominican Republic and given up for adoption when they were just two and six weeks respectively.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Though Laurinda knew she had a younger sister, Ashleigh wasn’t as sure but knew that her mother had given birth to her at a young age and assumed she had more siblings she hadn’t met yet.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Appearing on the podcast, <em><a href="https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/relationships/family-friends/i-think-youre-my-sister-siblings-find-each-other-after-25year-separation/news-story/a02923ba902801a135f5ab4cc919c41d" target="_blank" rel="noopener">I’ve Got News For You</a></em>, Ashleigh recalled how she finally had success in her quest to find blood relatives where online photo books and adoption websites turned up nothing when she came across the genealogy website MyHeritage.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“I was doing my adopted family tree and I noticed that [MyHeritage] were doing a pro bono program called DNA Quest and they basically were sending out about 15 to 20,000 free DNA kits to help adoptees reconnect with their family members that they were looking for,” she told podcast host Andrew Bucklow.</p>
<p dir="ltr">After submitting her story to the platform in return for a free MyHeritage DNA kit, Ashleigh found a genetic match: Laurinda. </p>
<p dir="ltr">She then reached out to her mystery match via email.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“Hi, my name is Ashleigh, I got a match from you on MyHeritage and according to it, you may be my aunt or my sister. I was adopted at the age of six weeks old from the Dominican Republic. This is my mother’s name. Could you please get back to me with any information and I look forward to hearing from you,” her email read.</p>
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<p dir="ltr">Laurinda, who was living six hours away from her sister, received the life-changing email notification while on her lunch break.</p>
<p dir="ltr"><img src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/2022/08/laurinda-ashleigh1.jpg" alt="Ashleigh (left) and Laurinda (right) with their adoptive parents. Images: MyHeritage" width="1280" height="720" /></p>
<p dir="ltr"><em>Ashleigh (left) and Laurinda (right) with their adoptive parents. Images: MyHeritage</em></p>
<p dir="ltr">Having spent 17 years looking for Ashleigh, Laurinda had “fallen off the wagon” in recent years.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“I replied [to the email] right away, I was like, ‘Oh, my gosh, you know, I think you’re my sister.’ It was an absolutely unbelievable thing. You know, I ran into work yelling, ‘my sister, my sister’, and it was an incredible moment,” Laurinda said.</p>
<p dir="ltr">The pair then spoke over the phone before meeting for the first time two weeks later.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“It was wild. We were planning on recording it but … [as] we pulled up to the driveway, Ashleigh must have sprinted down from the apartment,” Laurinda said.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“Before I knew it, she was pulling the door open and, you know, we just embraced each other hugging and crying. It was just the most surreal, beautiful thing that I could have ever hoped for.”</p>
<p dir="ltr">Ashleigh added: “I just bolted out of my building … I just ran out there and gave her the biggest hug and we just stood there for like 10 minutes [but] it seemed like forever.”</p>
<p dir="ltr">The sisters discovered that they also have three brothers, including one who died before either could meet him, as well as a grandmother, another sister, and a half-brother.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Though their biological mum died six months before the sisters’ reunion, Laurinda was fortunate enough to have met her and shared the photos they took together with Ashleigh.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“You know, I kind of get to live vicariously through [Laurinda] and she said [mum] always told her that she would give up her life to find me and you know, we think she probably did,” Ashleigh said.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Laurinda also introduced her sister to their biological dad virtually, but he passed away before Ashleigh could meet him in person.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Now feeling as if they have “known each other” forever, Ashleigh said the goal for the two sisters is to reunite the rest of their siblings.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“I haven’t had a chance to go and meet the rest of [the family] yet … but hopefully, hopefully, someday soon, we’ll get that cash together, and we’ll be able to go down and meet everybody and have everyone together again,” she said.</p>
<p dir="ltr">Laurinda also shared that she had found out that her adoptive parents had the opportunity to also adopt Ashleigh but chose not to. </p>
<p dir="ltr">“Since they had already adopted me, they kind of had first pick to be able to adopt [Ashleigh] since we were full siblings,” Laurinda said.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“But at the time I was two years old, I’m sure very much of a handful, so unfortunately my parents didn’t take up that opportunity to be able to adopt her as well.”</p>
<p dir="ltr">She said she was “a little bit upset” when she found that out from her parents at 15, but admitted it motivated her to find her sister.</p>
<p dir="ltr">“There’s absolutely no resentment in any way, you know, everything happens for a reason,” Laurinda said. </p>
<p dir="ltr">“We’re just honestly blessed to be able to have this opportunity to connect with each other and find each other after all these years.”</p>
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<p dir="ltr"><em>Image: Supplied</em></p>
