When Angela Ellis shared her quest with The Province to find the two half-siblings she’d never met, she didn’t expect to be sitting down with one of them just a few days later.
But that’s exactly what happened when Ellis, a 34-year-old Richmond woman who was adopted as a baby, decided to go public with her search.
“My sister was beyond excited to meet me,” Ellis recalled in a recent interview. “She didn’t know about me because she was born before I was and by that time, she was out of contact with my biological father.”
For Ellis, meeting her half-sister was the start of an incredible journey of self-discovery and the end of years of wondering about her background.
In March, Ellis posted a letter to Facebook, asking friends and strangers to “please share” and explaining she was trying to locate her half-sister and half-brother, the children of her biological father.
Ellis was adopted when she was two weeks old. Her birth mother was facing life on her own after recently splitting up with her biological father. Ellis, now a mother, had previously reconnected with her birth mom and brother.
She’d also spoken to her biological dad, although the two don’t have much contact. Ellis learned he had children from a previous relationship.
“They’re my biological half-siblings,” she explained to The Province in March. “He left when they were very young, and he doesn’t know where they are.”
On March 16, the Sunday Province shared Ellis’ story with readers. Almost immediately, her half-sister contacted her.
A relative of her husband had seen the article and passed on the information.
The women both live in B.C., while Ellis’ biological half-brother lives out of province. A few months ago, Ellis was able to meet both siblings at once, taking a trip with them to Seattle.
“We totally clicked right away. It was an amazing experience.”
She now has regular contact with her half-sister. Ellis and her husband have two children and her half-sister has one. The kids have enjoyed getting to know each other as well.
Ellis has been supported by her family through her journey.
“There’s been moments since meeting my (biological) sister that I’ve felt sad that we’ve missed out on so much time together. But when I think that way, I realize that if things hadn’t happened the way they did, I would have missed out on having my brother and my mom and dad.”
Ellis said that finding her biological siblings makes “everything feel very complete now.”
"There’s no wondering what if. There’s nothing left to do.”
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