TBILISI, Dec 2 — A Georgian woman’s search for her biological family took an unexpected turn when she discovered her biological father had been following her on Facebook for years — and he didn’t even know she existed.
It all started back in 2016 when Tamuna Museridze found a birth certificate with an incorrect birth date, which led her to suspect she was adopted.
As a journalist, she’d already helped hundreds of families reunite after being separated by Georgia’s notorious baby trafficking scandal.
But when it came to her own origins, she was left in the dark, wondering if she, too, had been stolen.
After years of digging, she finally got a lead that summer: a message through her Facebook group, “Vedzeb” (meaning “I’m Searching”), from someone who believed they knew her birth mother.
The person gave her a name, and though she couldn’t find anything online, Museridze posted an appeal asking for any info.
That’s when a woman responded, saying her aunt might be Museridze’s birth mother — and agreed to a DNA test.
The test results confirmed it: this woman was Museridze’s cousin.
With that proof in hand, Museridze convinced her birth mother to open up and tell her who her father was.
It turned out to be Gurgen Khorava.
So, naturally, Museridze did what anyone would do in this situation — she found him on Facebook.
To her surprise, he had been following her story for years.
“He’d been in my friend list for three years,” Museridze said with a laugh, according to the BBC.
“He didn’t even know I was his daughter.”
The two quickly arranged to meet, and when they did, the emotions were real.
“The moment he looked at me, he knew that I was his daughter,” Museridze was quoted as saying.
“I had so many mixed emotions.”
Despite the initial shock, they hit it off. Khorava, a former dancer with the State Ballet of Georgia, was delighted to discover Museridze’s daughters shared his love for dancing.
The family reunion extended to a big get-together, where Museridze met half-siblings, cousins, and more. Everyone agreed she looked just like her dad.
“Out of all his children, I look the most like my father,” she said with a smile.
But there was still one more question hanging over her: had she been stolen at birth, like so many others in Georgia?
Her adoptive parents were no longer alive, so she couldn’t ask them.
In October, she finally met with her birth mother, who revealed the painful truth: Museridze hadn’t been stolen.
Her mother had hidden the pregnancy out of shame and given her up voluntarily.
“She told me that if I would not say that I was stolen, everything would end between us,” Museridze said.
“And I said that I couldn’t do that.”
Though this revelation was tough, Museridze felt it was important to continue being honest about her past, especially for the sake of other families still searching for answers.
“Would I do it all again?” she said. “Of course I would, I found out so much about my new family.”
Even though she and her birth mother haven’t reconciled, Museridze has found the family she never knew she had — and it’s been nothing short of life-changing.
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