22-Year-Old Woman Finds Long Lost Birth Mother In Just 15 Minutes On Facebook
Natalie Bader grew up in a loving and stable home, but at 23, decided she wanted to find her birth mother, whom she had never met.
Bader had an open adoption after her birth mother, Colette Brasseur, gave her up at 24 years old. Brasseur had discovered she was pregnant soon after enlisting in the Army. She couldn't afford to keep and raise Natalie.
An open adoption allowed Brasseur to send her daughter letters, which she sent lots of. The Baders would send photos and letters back. But the adoption agency closed four years after Bader was adopted, and they lost touch with Brasseur.
This is one of the only photos of Bader and her birth mother as a baby, which Brasseur shared on Facebook after the two reunited:
Bader's adoptive parents shared the letters with her when she turned 18.
The Today Show said "one letter explained why she had chosen to give up Natalie for adoption, and another included photos that had been taken of mother and daughter shortly after Natalie's birth, as well as identifying details in case she ever wanted to find her birth mother."
At 23, Bader decided she wanted to search for her biological mother, using the identifying information from her mother's letter to start a search on social media sites.
Within 15 minutes, Natalie Bader had found a Facebook profile for Brasseur and reached out. Brasseur was delighted to hear from her daughter.
The Today Show provided this screengrab of text messages between the two:
The two have yet to meet in person, even though they keep up a pretty active virtual relationship thanks to the Facebook timeline.
"Graduation and birthdays and holidays, because of the timeline, I was there," Brasseur said. "All the pictures that I didn't get from the [adoption] agency that I was promised, I got from Facebook."