Katherine Samwell-Smith, 45, was adopted at six months old and longed to know who her birth mother was.
When she became a mum herself, this yearning only intensified.
Katherine was handed into an orphanage in Chile then went to her adoptive parents in 1977, moving 7,000 miles away to the UK.
When her adoptive mum died in 2010, she wanted to find who her biological mum is.
Knowing only her mother’s name, in 2019 Katherine – who is a project worker for the charity IAC The Centre for Adoption – joined a Facebook group that reconnects adoptees from Chile with their birth families.
She went in with low hopes, but last year had a stroke of luck.
One morning in April 2021, she received a message her birth mother had been found.
She said: ‘Immediately, my heart started racing.
‘It transpired that a local police officer who was helping the group had found my mother, Ximena, and knocked on her door, asking if she was my mum.
‘She confirmed that she was.
‘I was stunned, she could have easily denied it and shut the door, but my birth mother agreed to talk to me.
‘Finally, the pieces were falling into place.’
Katherine had been devastated when her adoptive mum, Rosie, died aged 64 from cancer, leaving her feeling like an ‘orphan’ again.
She said: ‘I didn’t have much hope of finding my mother when I joined the Facebook group in 2019.
‘I just hoped that someone might be able to point me in the right direction and, for a while, it didn’t lead to much.’
The group compiled a list of women in Chile who had the same name as Katherine’s birth mother and, one by one, they were all contacted, until Ximena was found.
She said: ‘When I set out to find Ximena I knew it was a near-impossible task. I had very little to go on and I didn’t know where to begin.
‘The Facebook group had connections with Chile which was pivotal in finding her.
‘And I am so glad they did, as I feel like I finally know who I am and I’m hoping I can meet her in person in the next year.’
Her past has never been kept secret, as her adoptive parents had always been open.
She said: ‘My mum and dad hid nothing from me. I don’t remember the first time we actually talked about it, but I guess I was around three or four years old.
‘I remember being very proud of the fact that I was adopted and, at around five years old, I told everyone at school.’
‘I had a very happy childhood and I’m a big advocate for adoption.
‘But, when I was around 17, I started wanting to know more about the place I was from so my mum and I went on a trip to Chile.
‘At the time, I wasn’t too interested in finding my birth family, but I asked about my records and the orphanage told me that they had got rid of them after I turned 16.’
In 2019, Katherine started to consider looking for her birth family.
She said: ‘My adoptive mum had sadly passed away in 2010, which was devastating.
‘A thought crossed my mind at the time as to whether my birth mother was still alive.
‘After becoming a mum myself, I really started to grieve for my birth mother – not knowing where she was or whether she was alive.
‘I was missing my adoptive mum terribly and I wanted my birth mother to be in my life.
‘I felt such a deep love for my children the second they were born and I thought about how agonising it must have been for my birth mother to give me up.’
It turned out her birth mum was 23 at the time of Katherine’s birth and she wasn’t able to look after her.
In August 2021, they met over FaceTime.
Katherine said: ‘My husband had to convince me to dial the number as I was so nervous.
‘Seeing her face on the screen was unbelievable.
‘She struggles with English and I’m no longer fluent in Spanish, so our phone calls are a lot of waving and smiling and I use Google Translate to talk to her.
‘We talked a lot about the past. I learned that I have a half brother who is 18 months older than me and was raised by our grandparents and, after me, my mother never had any more children and she never married.
‘The tough questions still haven’t been asked because it’s not a conversation I want to have with her over the phone.
‘The bits I have told her about my adoption and life have made her cry and I know she feels terrible about giving me up.
‘I wrote her a letter in which I told her that I forgive her. I don’t think that she has done something that needs to be forgiven, though. She gave me up out of love for me, but I knew it would mean a lot to her and hopefully give her some peace.’
Katherine’s adoptive dad has been welcoming too, adding: ‘He’s been so supportive and loves to hear about them. When I told him about Ximena, he said, “You can never have too much family.”
‘For me, finding my birth mother has helped my life come full circle. No matter what happens now, I know who I am.’
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