Story Created:
Apr 1, 2011 at 4:45 PM EDT
Story Updated:
Apr 1, 2011 at 9:59 PM EDT
UTICA, N.Y. (WKTV) - Most people create Facebook pages to connect with friends, share pictures, and status updates. One Central New York native, however, started her own Facebook page with just one purpose in mind - to find her birth mother.
Adopted four days after she was brought into the world, Beni Cunningham hopes with that the help of social media and possible new legislation, a reunion could be just around the corner.
Born at Saint Luke's Hospital on December 31, 1974, Cunningham never knew her birth mother. She was adopted by a loving family, and now has children of her own. She wants to provide her kids with a complete medical history of their family, but she can't do that without her birth mom.
Sealed legal records have kept her from finding the missing link that would lead her to finding her mom. Cunningham says she holds no resentment towards her birth mom, and she wants her to know that all her life she has been happy, and embraced by her adoptive family.
"The fact is that most babies are not abandoned or given up by their birth mothers," she said. "We are taken from our moms because society has labeled adoption a positive thing on what was originally labeled a negative thing."
Cunningham says she has no regrets in life, and she would love to get to know her birth mom.
Although she hasn't found her mom on Facebook yet, she has found a new network online of people who understand what she is going through.
"I have connected to a lot of other adoptees on Facebook, as well as birth mothers themselves, and even other people who have adopted children," she said. "So the whole adoption triad is over there and the support is absolutely wonderful."
Lawmakers are working on new legislation called the Bill of Adoptee Rights. If passed, it would provide adult adoptees with legal access to their original birth certificate, and it is giving Cunningham hope that she'll get the information she needs to find the woman who gave birth to her.
"Whether the questions to our answers are negative or positive, it is our journey, and knowing the truth is healing over never knowing," she said. "I believe secrets destroy families and destroy lives."
Although she now lives in Arizona, she hopes that by sharing her story in the area she was born in, her birth mother may hear her plea and reach out to her.
You can connect with Beni Cunningham through her
search page on Facebook.
Most Popular