Woman adopted at birth finds out her biological father was actually her Facebook friend for 3 years

Never estimate the power of a journalist, especially when the story is personally motivated. Tamuna Museridze almost had a mid-life crisis when she discovered that she was adopted after birth. After the mother who raised her passed away, the woman from Georgia was going through her personal belongings and stumbled on a birth certificate with her name on it. The birth date was, however, not the same. The mystery got Museridze, who is an established journalist in the European nation, thinking. Like any other person, she hopped on the internet and social media looking for clues, as reported by the BBC.

In 2016, Museridze embarked on a mission to find her biological parents and uncover details about her adoption history. She set up a Facebook group named Vedzeb, which translates to ‘I’m Searching’ in Georgian. In the feat, she also discovered a baby trafficking scandal in the country and speculated whether she was also stolen at birth and hence, separated from her biological mother. Someone from rural Georgia contacted her, claiming they knew a woman who had hidden her pregnancy and gone away to Tbilisi to give birth in September 1984– Museridze's birth month and year. She followed up with an appeal on Facebook asking about the woman. 

Another woman responded, saying that it was actually her aunt. She was ready to do a DNA test with her, but on one condition. Museridze was asked to take the public Facebook post down, citing privacy concerns. The DNA test results proved that the woman was her first cousin. Inching closer towards her cause, Museridze got her biological mother’s contact information and rang her up. After the phone call, she was shocked by her mother’s rejection. “She started screaming, shouting - she said she hadn’t given birth to a child. She didn't want anything to do with me,” Museridze told the outlet. Yet, she was firm in her resolve and convinced her mother to acknowledge the truth and get her to reveal her father’s name. 

Gurgen Khorava, a renowned person at the State Ballet of Georgia, was Museridze's biological father. “The first two months were shocking, I couldn’t believe these things were happening to me. I couldn’t believe I had found them.” Once again, she searched his name on social media and discovered that his biological father had been her Facebook friend for the past three years. Having contacted him, Museridze realized that her father was not aware of any of it. “He didn’t even know my birth mother had been pregnant. It was a huge surprise for him,” she disclosed. Fortunately, her birth father’s reaction was a positive one. 

The father-daughter coordinated and met up in his hometown of Zugdidi in western Georgia. As she entered his home, Museridze recalled feeling strangely calm. “It was strange, the moment he looked at me, he knew that I was his daughter. I had so many mixed emotions,” she admitted. Meeting her 72-year-old biological father for the first time was a moving experience for Museridze, and she was clueless about their introductions. After staring at each other for a while, they eventually bonded over their shared love for dancing. Delighted to meet his daughter, Gurgen invited his entire family to his house– half siblings, cousins, aunts, and uncles. 

Later, when a Polish TV company made a documentary about her life, Museridze got the privilege to ask her mother about her adoption. She was not stolen as a child, as Museridze had suspected, and her mother had voluntarily given her up due to an unprecedented pregnancy. Her birth parents were never tied in a relationship, and to conceal that shame, her mother kept it a secret for 40 years. Her story was also narrated in a BBC documentary (@BBCWorldService) on YouTube about the stolen children of Georgia who fell victim to a massive child trafficking scandal.