Thanks to the perseverance of police in search of her roots, a woman who was born in Taiwan and adopted by a Finnish couple when she was a baby has found her biological father and has made plans to meet him in February in Taiwan.
Janica Palonen is the second Finnish adoptee to find success in such a search following Conny Wiik, who met his birth family earlier this year.
Palonen and Wiik are among more than 60 babies sent overseas in the 1980s by a child-trafficking ring that used forged documents to arrange adoptions.
Their search for their biological parents was initiated after another member of the group, Sabina Soderlund, traveled to Taiwan in 2006 to search for her roots. Soderlund has yet to track down her birth parents.
Police learned about Palonen’s case while tracing the backgrounds of Wiik and Soderlund, a police team in New Taipei City yesterday said.
With the assistance of the Taipei City Police Department, the National Police Agency, courts, household registration offices and Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials, the team said it identified a man who was likely to be Palonen’s biological father.
With Soderlund’s help, the team made contact with Palonen, who sounded delighted when told she might have the chance to find her roots, police said.
After a series of DNA-based identity checks, the man was confirmed as Palonen’s father.
Once Palonen was informed of the news, she decided to arrange a trip to meet her biological father, the police said.
Police said the man put his daughter up for adoption due circumstances they did not specify.
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