Adopted woman meets her birth parents after 25 years apart

By Ben Barry via SWNS

A woman adopted as a baby tracked down her long-lost parents after 25 years - and discovered she is half black.

Sydney Parkhurst, 24, was put up for adoption as a baby as her biological mom, Inga Coleman, was unable to keep and raise her.

Curious Sydney grew up understanding she was adopted but initially didn't know her biological parent's names, ages or location.

She started looking for her birth parents in 2018 when she took a DNA test and submitted a sample to 23andMe.

Two years later in April 2020, her half-sister on her mom's side, Kayla Hensley, 32, reached out and told her that her mom had sadly passed away in 2018.

In November 2021, after finding out her mom had died she knew she needed to find her dad and submitted another DNA test to Ancestry.com.

She then got a message from her first cousin on her dad's side, ChanDreas Barkley, 31, who put her in contact with her father, Lenton Mitchell, 53, who works in paving.

Her dad sent her a text to say he wished he met her sooner and the pair saw each other for the first time on June 23, 2024, in Cartersville, Georgia and said it was "surreal".

It wasn't until her search for her birth family that Sydney discovered she was biracial - as there was no information about her birth father.

Sydney, a multimedia designer, from Tampa, Fla., said: "I always knew that I was adopted.

"I am not sure on the details why - all I know is that my birth mom couldn't keep me and she didn't give the hospital a lot of details about who my father was.

"I grew up in Rhode Island, and I didn't look like anyone else in that community.

"I struggled a lot with fitting in at school and I didn't know I was half black until I took a DNA test in my senior year."

Sydney was born on March 10, 2000, in Rome, Georgia, and was put up for adoption at birth.

One month later, she was taken in by Kimberly Parkhurst, 64, and her husband, David, 61.

Her adoptive parents then moved 1,000 miles away from Atlanta, Georgia, to Barrington, Rhode Island, New England, where Sydney grew up.

Sydney said: "Rhode Island doesn't have a lot of diversity and my parents are both white - growing up I felt like an outsider.

"I struggled fitting in but I was good at sports and that is what I used to fit in.

"It was still super hard for me as I had nobody who looked like me."

Sydney said she had a great childhood and she was "blessed" with her adoptive parents but she was nervous telling them she wanted to find her birth mom and dad.

She said: "I didn't want to look ungrateful for everything they have done for me.

"I would search on random websites and try to find whatever I could.

"I always had that question and I always wanted to know who my birth parents were."

In 2018, during her high school senior year, Sydney took a DNA test and submitted the results to the website 23andMe.

She said: "My half-sister reached out to me in April 2020 and said we might be half-siblings.

"I met my half-sister on my mom's side in January 2021 who told me my mom had passed away two years earlier.

"I then knew it would be a stretch to find my birth father as my mom left no information about him."

Sydney then took another DNA test and posted it on Ancestry.com - where she was messaged by her first cousin on her dad's side.

She said: "I thought I needed to find my dad in case he had passed away.

"I found my first cousin and she was able to piece together which one of her uncles was my dad.

"She asked her uncles if they knew the name of my birth mother and he said yes."

Sydney then got a text message from her dad, Lenton, who said he wished they had met sooner.

He said: "I am glad you reached out trying to find me, if I had known about you we would have met sooner."

Adding: "I love you and I'm glad to have a new daughter that I did not know about, if you have any questions you can call me."

Sydney said the message came as a "surprise" as she had prepared herself for him not wanting to know her or being dead like her mom.

She said: "I waited a couple of days to reply and I said it was crazy and good to hear from him.

"It took me a whole year to process what had happened."

In May 2024, her half-brother, Tony Mitchell, 31, reached out and said Sydney should go to Cartersville, Georgia, to surprise her dad.

She drove down to Cartersville and met her cousins and aunties on June 22nd the day before the surprise meal to meet her dad.

She said: "We had planned brunch, the family said he is hard to get hold of at times so I wasn't expecting him to turn up.

"We went to a restaurant where I met some of my other aunties and my grandma.

"All of a sudden he walks through the door."

Sydney met her biological father for the first time on June 23, 2024, and it was a "surreal experience".

She said: "It was really cool to meet the family and see the qualities I share with them.

"They are all short, as am I, and they all seem super genuine.

"They were all so welcoming and friendly.

"My dad was a lot more emotional than I thought he would be.

"He was quiet and reserved, he kept on looking at me and saying I looked so much like my birth mom.

"He was very excited to meet me and said he was sad he didn't have a relationship with me early on."

Lenton said: "When I met Sydney I was excited and nervous at the same time.

"When I saw her I was glad that I was finally able to meet her.

"I would have love to have met her sooner."