"Knew immediately that it was him" Woman searches for biological father - and finds him in an unexpected place

Tamuna Museridze, who has reunited hundreds of families separated by a baby-trafficking scandal, has now found her own biological parents. More by chance, as she now tells us.

Tamuna Museridze always suspected that she was adopted. After the death of her adoptive mother, she found a birth certificate with her name but a false date of birth. This led her to search for her birth parents.

Her research brought to light a baby trafficking scandal in Georgia, where parents were falsely told that their newborns had died, when in fact they had been sold.

In the summer, Museridze received a crucial tip-off via her Facebook group. A message from someone in rural Georgia suggested that a woman had secretly given birth to a child in Tbilisi in September 1984. Museridze, who was born during this time, was eventually given her birth mother's name. A DNA test confirmed the relationship and Museridze was able to convince her mother to reveal her father's name: Gurgen Khorava.

"Knew immediately that I was his daughter"

Museridze was very surprised when she found out that Khorava had been on her Facebook friends list for three years. He had been following her work without knowing that he was part of her story. "He didn't even know that my biological mother had been pregnant," Museridze tells the BBC. "It was a big surprise for him."

The two met in Zugdidi, and Khorava immediately recognized that Museridze was his daughter. "It was strange, the moment he looked at me, he knew I was his daughter," she recalls. "I had so many mixed feelings," she says. They discovered common interests, especially a passion for dancing, which Museridze's daughters also share.

Despite being reunited with her father, the question remained as to whether Museridze had been stolen as a baby like many other Georgians. A meeting with her biological mother, organized by a Polish TV team, clarified the situation: Museridze had not been stolen, but her mother had given her up for adoption out of shame.

Museridze refused to support the lie that she had been stolen in order to protect the credibility of the parents concerned. "If it ever came to light that I had lied, no one would believe the other mothers," she says by way of explanation.

Museridze not only found her biological parents through her search, but also met a new family. "Would I do it again?" she asks herself. "Yes, I would definitely do it again. I've learned so much about myself."

This article was created with the help of artificial intelligence (AI). All content created by AI is verified by the editorial team.