A Facebook Reunion

Man given up for adoption aged just three days reunited with family traced on Facebook... after 33 years
By Daily Mail Reporter
05th June 2009

Robert Marks has found his long-lost family after tracing his sister through Facebook
A man who was given up for adoption as a newborn baby 33 years ago has found his long-lost family after tracing his sister on Facebook.

Now he has been welcomed back into the family with open arms and is set for an emotional meeting with them.

Mr Marks's story comes just days after Avril Grube used the social networking site to find her son Gavin Paros, 27 years after he was abducted by his estranged father.

Mr Marks has spent the past 15 years desperately searching for birth mother Carol Horridge in the Manchester area before turning to Facebook.

He messaged dozens of people with the same surname in the same area before his sister Andrea Roczniak replied saying 'I think you're my brother.'

Mr Marks, from Weymouth, Dorset, broke down in tears when he then called her. He said: 'I couldn't believe it when I realised I had found them.

'I called Andrea and she started telling me how she had been looking for me for 12 years and how I had a massive family waiting to meet me.'
He said it felt completely natural to speak with his sister after so many years of not knowing her.

'After that I called my mum,' he said.
'I could hear a faint voice blubbering so I said "hello mum" and that was it we were talking and crying for the next two and a half hours.

'Since then we have talked lots and I have been re-listening to a message over and over again just to hear her voice.
'I feel like my life has started again and I have a whole new family - I couldn't be happier if I won the Lottery.'

Mr Marks said he felt that Facebook had changed his life and admits he never would have found his family had it have not been for the social networking site.

He said he has spent hours on the phone with his new family and, as well as learning about the circumstances of his adoption, learnt they had plenty in common.

Mrs Horridge already had two children when she gave birth to her third baby at the age of 19.

She felt she was not able to support him and when he was just three-days-old put him up for adoption in order to give him a better life.

He was brought up by loving adoptive parents Beverly and Dorian, and older brother Andrew.
Ironically Mr Marks, grew up with his adopted parents living just two miles from his biological family.
'Our paths could have crossed many times over the years, and we've never known about it,' he said.

When he was 18, he said he was determined to find his real mother and contacted Bury Social Services for help.

He discovered his sister Andrea had already tried to contact him, dropping off a letter two years previously to the same social services but had since moved away.

Despite desperately searching for them he was unable to trace his mother or any of his siblings.

He said: 'I always knew I was adopted and I had real issues with feeling rejected and not knowing where I belong.

'I felt depressed when I was growing up - it was like a massive void that was never filled. But I don't blame my mother for what she did, she did the right thing.

'I had a five-star childhood, it was the best anyone could hope for and I'll always be grateful to my adopted parents for that.'

In her own search to find him, his sister applied for a copy of his birth certificate just last week.

She said: 'I had been searching for my lost brother for 15 years and I couldn't believe it when I saw his message.

'I was over the moon and I couldn't stop crying when I finally spoke to him.
'It means so much to me that he wanted to find us and now he's got a huge new family to get to know.

'We're all so excited for his visit, we're counting down the days. It's been like a rollercoaster.'

Mr Marks will travel to Manchester on Monday to meet his mother Carol, 52, sister Andrea, 35,and his older brother Mark, 37.

He said: 'Today, for the first time in my life, I feel complete with no worries.

'My burden has been lifted at long last - I feel like a completely different person.'