Natasha, a 38-year-old logistics specialist living in Zurich, Switzerland, carried a quiet longing in her heart for most of her life. Born in 1987 and left at an adoption home 11 days later, she was adopted by a Swiss couple before she turned one. As she grew up in Zurich alongside an adopted sister from Africa, her childhood was a blend of school, friends, and routine days—but also marked by challenges.
“As a dark-skinned girl in a mostly white society, there were many uncomfortable moments,” she recalled. Until her mid-teens, Natasha endured taunts and exclusion, feeling the sting of being different. By 16, she found her resolve. “I decided I wouldn’t let others define who I am,” she said.
This resolution was a game-changer, for it came with a new purpose.
Her adoptive family had provided her a stable home and were supportive, yet Natasha sensed their hesitation when she began searching for her biological roots. Her father dismissed the notion, while her mother, initially cautious, eventually backed her. “She started to understand how much it meant to me,” Natasha noted.
Her African sister didn’t want to dig into her past though. “I think it felt too daunting for her. But I needed to understand my identity to piece together the puzzle of my beginnings. I think it’s a perfectly natural desire for an adopted child,” she reflected.
At 22 or 23, she began her search in earnest, scouring social media, contacting organisations, collecting all the papers connected to her birth and adoption. But her initial attempts and experience with the adoption centre in Mumbai were frustrating as she met with bureaucracy and dismissive responses. “Those were the worst two years of my life. It was this extreme emotional rollercoaster… from hope to disappointment, from sadness to anger–it was really hard,” she recounted.
An email that changed everything
Undeterred, Natasha persisted, eventually connecting with advocate Anjali Pawar, Arun Dohle and their team of Adoptee Rights Council, Pune. Pawar and Dohle, who have spent their lives helping adopted children meet their parents.
In June 2025, Natasha received the email that changed everything: her mother had been found. She was still in Switzerland at the time, but the news propelled her to India. On September 23, Natasha met her biological mother in Mumbai. “I was completely overwhelmed at first, totally uptight, almost unable to breathe, and was too shy to say anything. Imagine what you wanted most in your life suddenly came true,” she said, her voice laden with emotion.
The meeting was brief, lasting only 30 minutes, as her mother had to conceal it from her husband and sons. Natasha learned her mother was just 15 when she gave birth and pressured by her family to give up the baby due to societal constraints.
“She was in a relationship with a boy and conceived. She said she didn’t remember much about him and so there were no details I got about my father. But that’s okay- the more important information I wanted was whether she had been sexually assaulted or it was consensual and was relieved to get the answer,” said Natasha.
Both women, guarded by nature, shared a quiet connection. Natasha noticed striking similarities—their lips, noses, and expressive eyes. “I have often been told that my eyes always seem to be brimming with anger and I would tell people it’s just how they are. That day I saw the same eyes in my mother’s face.”
The encounter dissolved Natasha’s lingering anger about being given up. “In an instant all my anger vanished. I understood her circumstances—she had been sent by her parents to Mumbai from her village to give birth–she had no option,” said Natasha.
The reunion freed her from a sense of loss, filling her with positivity and hope.
It’s always ‘some pressure or circumstances’
“It was difficult but not impossible,” said Pawar, who has facilitated 86 such reunions by now.
“Armed with just the first name of her mother we threw ourselves into the task. We had been told that the mother had been traced by the adoptive agency but she didn’t want to meet her daughter. I went and met her personally and there was no such thing–she just wanted this to remain a secret, which we of course understood. In the first meeting she gave her DNA, which matched with Natasha’s.
“We proceeded with caution and all the prescribed procedures and arranged the meeting. My experience is that every mother gives away the child for adoption because of some pressure or circumstances and they think about the child all their lives, just like an adopted child thinks of their biological parents. Wherever possible we should help them meet,” said Pawar.
Meanwhile, Natasha is in touch with her uncle, who had been with her mother during her birth.
“I may meet him again even if I don’t meet my mother – I don’t want to disturb her family. She has a husband and sons after all. But I am her only daughter,” smiles Natasha.
Natasha plans to stay on in Mumbai for a few more weeks cherishing the connection to her roots. And then fly back to Zurich and return to her life as a single working woman-but with her heart now filled with a contentment only she knows.
At 22 or 23, she began her search in earnest, scouring social media, contacting organisations, collecting all the papers connected to her birth and adoption 
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