A woman uncovered something shocking while she was moving house.
Jessica Murace, 20, was clearing her home out back in 2018 when she stumbled upon some important documents about her family history.
The Brit, then 14, found a book that was made by social services that details the story of an adopted child.
Murace, who was adopted as a baby, had never seen the book before discovering it, and couldn't believe what she found out.
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She found out that she actually had five siblings, Heather, 25, John, 24, Katy, 22, Nicole, 21 and the late William, who passed away aged 18 in 2023.
However, the luxury retail worker didn't stop there, tracking them all down on Instagram to organise a meet-up, which eventually happened in April 2019.
Murace revealed that she didn't tell her adoptive parents at first.
She called the discovery 'life-changing', as she now has a relationship with all of them, adding: "It hasn’t always been easy, but I’m happy I’ve met them. It’s given me a chance to know who I really am.
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"It was surreal. For the first time, I saw people who looked like me, it was completely overwhelming."
She grew up in Manchester with her adoptive family after being put into foster care by social services, not aware of her siblings, admitting that she 'didn't quite fit in' anywhere, despite 'not knowing' she was adopted.
Murace revealed that kids at school would assume she was adopted as she didn't look like her parents, though they told her she was adopted when she was five years old.
Having forgot what she was told, she then asked her adoptive parents if she was adopted later in life, which they denied as they were scared it would hurt her.
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"It is hard for us to talk about, but it was a selfish to keep it from her, and we do regret it so much and live with it every day," her parents Gillian and Pietro insisted.
"We love her so much and just didn’t want her to push us away."
Reflecting on finding the social services book, she said: "Inside there were pictures of children, and one looked like me.
"That’s how I discovered the truth through social services documents, as a 14-year-old it was overwhelming."
When first finding the book, she kept her feelings to herself, saying: “I cried a lot, it was a very lonely time, especially as I felt like I couldn’t talk to by adoptive parents about it.”
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But a few quick DMs on Instagram, along with snaps of her personal information and birth certificate, convinced them all to reunited.
They all agreed to meet halfway at a restaurant in Birmingham, with both sets of adoptive parents, as Murace said she was in shock, stating: "It was just weird seeing them look so much like them. I saw me in them."
Now, she visits her siblings a number of times a year, as they really feel like brothers and sisters, though the 20-year-old has realised the importance of honesty in adoption.
"When I found out, I had a massive identity crisis, it felt like my life was a lie.
“But I don’t regret discovering the truth," she admitted.
Joshua Nair