It took 44 years, but a British receptionist finally finds her long-lost sisters in Poland

When her adoptive parents passed away when she was eighteen, Magda Berg began her search for her birth family. For 44 years, she kept trying to find them only knowing her birth mother’s name, the Polish village where she was born, and the name of the convent she was left at, all of which led to dead ends. Now, after some help from a private investigator, she was reunited with her half-siblings.

"It's funny because I now talk about 'my sisters' and when I hear myself say it I'm still really surprised. We all talk about life in the same way, like we were raised together,” Berg told The Daily Record. "We have a lot in common and we are able to finish each others' sentences."

While raised in Poland, Berg is a receptionist from Amersham, Buckinghamshire, England, having lived in the U.K. since 2005. She had known from age five that she was adopted, but hadn’t been given much information regarding her birth family. In fact, the convent she was dropped off in had closed, leaving a dead end in her search.

Fortunately for Berg, a change in the law in Poland allowed her to request her original birth certificate in 2018. Previously, she was only able to access her post-adoption birth certificate. She then knew the name of her birth mother and the town she had lived in.

After struggling to get more information, Berg hired a private investigator. The detective not only found the name and address of Berg’s birth mother, but also discovered that she had two half-sisters and one half-brother. After the detective sent letters of introduction to Berg’s mother, there was no response until Berg’s half-sister, Beata, found one of the letters.

This led to Magda and Beata meeting, opening the floodgates for Magda to meet the rest of the family, except her brother who she hopes to meet soon. Magda has since developed a relationship with Beata and her other half-sister Daria. Beata’s young daughter even refers to Magda as “her auntie in the U.K.”

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"It's so lovely to have Daria and Beata. We look quite alike, and we all like reading, sight seeing, and going to the forest, we even all wear glasses,” Magda recounted. "I share interests with them that I did not share with my adoptive parents: I have a whole new sense of belonging.”

The three sisters write long messages to one another once a month, and have arranged to meet twice a year.

The desire for an adoptee to find their birth family is multi-faceted, from emotional to clinical. Some of them just want to know their background for their birth family’s medical history to prevent and be aware of certain health risks. Some adoptees want emotional closure to find out the reasons why they were put up for adoption. Others, like Magda Berg, wanted to see if there was a chance for familial connection. Finding a link to the past could help improve their lives in the present.

Many times the bio-family meet-up doesn’t end up like Berg’s, and that’s okay. For many people, the answer to the question is enough. That’s fortunately the case when the adoptee feels that they have the support and love from their adopted family or chosen family. In any case, getting that look into your past can help you appreciate and build your life for the future, movie ending or not.