pam took on the case of linda who was a
birth mother
who's on a desperate search for the
daughter she chose to give up 42 years
ago
take a look linda ran away from home
when she was 15.
i don't ever remember time i wasn't
getting hit by my dad for something i
did
or hit by my mother she lived on the
streets for a few months after she
returned home
she found out she was pregnant i hadn't
experienced the feeling of love
do you know and i thought god i'd have a
baby and this
baby is gonna love me it's gonna be my
baby
when i was uh seven months pregnant my
social worker
said i just have to tell you your mom
said no way is this baby ever coming
into your house
i just raged like it made no sense
it made no sense to say for all of these
months
that i was gonna have my daughter
feeling like she had no choice linda
gave the baby up for adoption
she and pam went back to rosalie hall a
home for unwed mothers where linda's
baby was born
i haven't been here you know
in 42 years right so it's like pretty
surreal
so this is the room that i stayed in
mm-hmm
if you let yourself really feel this
what are you afraid will happen
the moment when i gave her up
you know and the
just like that you know like the
joyfulness
of giving birth and then the moment at
which i had to get i had to
walk out of the hospital without her
so i don't want to go back and visit
that and i don't want to go back and
visit the time i saw in the papers
you know i knew
from the day i was leaving
and i knew that the last time i held her
was the last time i held her
so linda eventually got her life
together she got a college scholarship
she worked on wall street she got
married and she had a son but something
was always missing because you can't
find peace until you find the pieces so
for the last week
pam has been trying to find linda's
daughter
see what happened for the past three
days pam has been working around the
clock trying to track her down
and finally got a lead on a woman named
laura
hello i am trying to help someone that
has been looking for
their biological child that was born in
new york city on january 15
1968. okay could that possibly be you
uh yeah i guess you know why i'm calling
that
okay so she's looking for me your birth
mom is looking for you yes
serious yeah is that a good thing
oh god you would never know i have lived
all my life
without a family being oh god
i don't even know how to start um
and i haven't lived all my life dying
for a family not having one
a few days later laura flew over 2 000
miles to meet her birth mother linda
my childhood it was difficult
i used to think but everything that i've
gone through in this life
i used to think that from the day that i
was born
i've been rejected that i haven't been
able to find anybody that cares about me
i can't believe i'm gonna make her
i can't believe she actually looked for
me
then pam told linda the search for her
daughter was
over so you know we've been through a
crazy couple of days
hmm but i have something i need to tell
you
i found your daughter i did
i need you to get yourself together i'm
gonna go see her
uh really
you know was your daughter i hope it's
everything
that you drugged it with me go meet your
daughter
give me a hug goodbye it'll be great
don't be scared don't be scared
we'll be right back we'll talk to lyndon
laura hello
so if this just happened yesterday this
happened yesterday linda met the
daughter that she gave birth to
42 years ago
it has only been 24 hours how was it
waking up this morning for you knowing
that you had found your daughter
it was so surreal i couldn't even
i couldn't even i couldn't even get my
head around it it was so crazy for me
you know i mean meeting laura and then
finding out her story
and knowing it wasn't the life i wanted
for her when she was given up
but looking at her and being so proud of
her and all of her accomplishments and
seeing her brother and her together just
melts my heart
knowing that she's not alone but she's
not alone and she loves me as much as i
love her
um well what was so moving to me about
um
what you were saying to pam is that you
said she wants
she actually is look he's been looking
for me she's actually been looking for
me because what
what what had you thought or felt about
that when you're adopted you never know
why the person gave you up you never
know whether it was because they decided
they just didn't want you you were an
accident they didn't care they didn't
you know you weren't worthy
for their attention for their love for
you know when you find out that okay
this person gave you
because they actually loved you enough
to want you to have a better life
but as much as they wanted they just
they they realized that they couldn't be
without you well
and in this case i mean she didn't want
to give you up she didn't even want to
she named me
yeah she gave me a name
she named you yeah and the name had
special meaning
yes it does it's like a validation when
your birth mother
looks for you it's a validation that you
were never forgotten
and it it heals a piece of you it's a
gift honestly
yes i think it's what everybody is
looking for is to know that you matter
is to know that you matter and to have
been given a name
would mean that you is that you mattered
yeah linda not only met uh her daughter
she also met three of her grandchildren
you have three grandchildren
so in a day you get a daughter and three
grandchildren
yeah it's been pretty wild and and oh
yeah there they are
you know they are amazing little
children oh my god they're just
laura's done such a fabulous job she's
just done such an amazing job that there
you know you never know you never know
what the person
has gone through or and you never know
did you make the right decision you know
i questioned myself
for all these years and then when i look
at those little ones
you know god
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