Woman searching for birth parents discovers her father was a Facebook friend for years

A Georgian journalist made a surprising discovery while searching for her birth parents—her biological father had been her Facebook friend for three years.

Tamuna Museridze, who was adopted as a child, launched a Facebook group in 2021 to help with her search.

The search began years earlier, in 2016, after the woman who raised her passed away.

While cleaning out her adoptive mother’s home, Tamuna came across a birth certificate with her name—but the date of birth didn’t match, sparking questions about her past.

Tamuna, believing she might be adopted, started a Facebook group called “Vedzeb” to search for her birth parents.

According to BBC, her search uncovered a major baby trafficking scandal in Georgia, where thousands of families were wrongly told their babies had died at birth.

In truth, the infants were sold on the black market, leaving many Georgians unaware of their origins.

Tamuna’s quest took a new direction when she received a message about a woman who had secretly given birth in September 1984—the same month and year Tamuna was born.

When Tamuna reached out to her birth mother, the response was startling. The woman screamed and adamantly denied ever having a child.

Refusing to give up, Tamuna turned to Facebook, sharing her plea for information. A breakthrough came when a woman replied, claiming her aunt had hidden a pregnancy years ago.

A DNA test confirmed a family connection, identifying Tamuna and the woman as cousins and confirming the identity of Tamuna’s birth mother.

Seeking more answers, Tamuna asked about her father and learned his name: Gurgen Korava.

“The first two months were shocking, I couldn’t believe these things were happening to me,” she recalls, “I couldn’t believe I had found them.”

Searching for him on Facebook led to a shocking discovery—he was already one of her friends.

For three years, Gurgen had been unknowingly connected to Tamuna, following her story on Facebook as he searched for her without realizing their true connection.

“He didn’t even know my birth mother had been pregnant,” Tamuna disclosed to the BBC, “It was a huge surprise for him.”

Tamuna traveled to Gurgen’s hometown of Zugdidi, about 160 miles from her home in Tbilisi, for their first meeting.

When Gurgen, 72, came out to greet her, they shared an emotional embrace. Tamuna recalled the moment as “strange,” saying Gurgen instantly recognized her as his daughter.

Overwhelmed with questions, they sat together, studying each other for familiar traits.

During their conversation, they discovered a mutual love for the arts.

Gurgen, a former dancer with the State Ballet of Georgia, was pleased to learn that Tamuna’s daughters, his granddaughters, had inherited his passion for dance.

“They both love dancing, and so does my husband,” she says with a smile.

Gurgen warmly welcomed Tamuna into his family, introducing her to many relatives.

Their resemblance was immediately apparent, with Tamuna noting that she looked most like her father.

The evening was filled with storytelling, traditional Georgian food, and Gurgen playing the accordion.

Despite the joy of the reunion, Tamuna still wondered whether she had been taken from her birth parents and sold, like many other Georgians.

With no adoptive parents alive to answer her questions, clarity finally came when a Polish TV crew, filming a documentary about her journey, helped arrange a meeting with her birth mother in private.

Tamuna learned that her story was not one of abduction. Instead, her mother had made the painful decision to give her up, keeping the secret for four decades.

Tamuna learned that her parents were not in a committed relationship, and her mother hid the pregnancy due to shame.

In September 1984, her mother went to Tbilisi, claiming to have surgery, but instead gave birth to Tamuna and stayed there until the adoption was arranged.

Tamuna described the experience as painful, especially knowing she spent ten days alone with her mother before the adoption.

Her mother later asked her to lie, saying Tamuna had been stolen.

She threatened to cut ties with her if she refused, but Tamuna couldn’t bring herself to lie.

She felt that lying would undermine the real stories of children who were genuinely taken from their birth parents.

As a result, her mother asked her to leave, and they have not spoken since.

“Would I do it all again?” she reflects. “Of course I would, I found out so much about my new family.”

Watch this heartfelt moment when Tamuna Museridze meets her father, Gurgen Korava, for the first time: