Norway woman takes FB route to find birth mom

Marie was both on January 14, 1978, and was given up for adoption three months later.

Marie was both on January 14, 1978, and was given up for adoption three months later.

KOLKATA: Marie Kristiansen Eftestad, a hairdresser in Norway, has had just one dream — to reunite with her biological mother. Forty years back, Marie was adopted from this city and now she and her wife Monica are on a mission to trace her mother.

Marie’s adoption papers state her birth name as Pinky and have all the details of her biological mother, but the only hitch is that she was unmarried at the time and didn’t want her identity to be disclosed. In order to persuade her mother to have a change of heart, Marie has put up a post on her Facebook page. She hopes if her mother is alive, she or someone close to her will read it and help in their reunion.

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Marie was both on January 14, 1978, and was given up for adoption three months later. “I was born at Park View Nursing Home. I never went back to Kolkata, but would love to be there to reunite with my mother,” Marie said.

Marie has written that she is forever grateful to her biological mother for giving birth to her. “There must have been serious compulsions for you to give me up for adoption. I don’t hold that against you. I understand that you didn’t want to be identified then. But I am hoping, after all these years, you have had a change of heart. I really hope you too want to meet me as much as I do,” her post said. She also added that she would understand if the reunion can’t happen. “I don’t want to jeopardise your life for me. But if a meeting is impossible, I wish I can get a photo of yours to see how you look,” she wrote.

Five years ago, she married Monica who provides critical care to patients suffering from brain damage and psychological problems. “We have three children. Our eldest son is threeand-a-half-years-old. We also have two-year-old twins — a boy and a girl. Not a single day goes by when my wife doesn’t think about her biological mother,” said 44-year-old Monica.

“Even my parents who adopted me support my search,” Marie said.

The two have pinned their hopes on Saroj Sood, founder and honorary secretary of The Indian Society For Sponsorship and Adoption (ISSA). When TOI got in touch with Soumeta Medhora, the chief functionary of ISSA, she said she has noticed Marie’s case. “I wasn’t around when this adoption happened. But I know about Pinky. We get a lot of queries for reunion, but the last one that happened was in case of Saroo Brierley (of “Lion” fame). We are looking into Pinky’s files to check the confidentiality clause. We will be happy if she reunites with her mother,” Medhora said.

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