Woman reunites with long-lost father after he's a suggested Facebook friend

When Karen Harris turned 18, she learned her biological father's name, profession, and hometown, but it took a few decades — and the help of social media — to finally track him down.

Harris, 56, was adopted as an infant. Her parents were teenagers when she was born, and unmarried. While she is "grateful" to her adoptive family, Harris told The Scotsman she never felt a total "sense of belonging." Now that she's discovered her father, she's "found completion. I've found connection and completion and I'm cherishing it."

Harris lives in Cornwall, England, and as soon as she was an adult, she asked an adoption social worker for information on her biological parents. With the limited information, she was able to find her mother about 10 years later, but her dad's whereabouts remained a mystery. She kept searching, and recently, a man with her father's name, Trevor Sinden, appeared on her Facebook page as a person she might know.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

She clicked on his profile, and the details pointed to this being her dad. She contacted him, and Sinden confirmed she was his daughter. They spoke daily for nearly two months, and last week, finally met. "I have looked on the internet but could never find her," Sinden said. "It's early days but I feel we already know each other quite well." Harris said she sees herself in Sinden, and feels "incredibly blessed to find him now."