Woman finds biological father after decades-long search

Inga Ósk Ólafsdóttir found her biological father at the age of 50 after a lifelong search, mbl.is reports. Her story is marked by hurt and regret over what might have been, but ultimately ended in a joyful reunion.

Inga was born in 1970 and immediately given to another couple for adoption. She says her adoptive parents were loving and provided her with a good home. When she was seven or eight, they told her that she had been adopted. The couple had also adopted a boy eight years earlier.

She immediately became curious about her biological parents and her origins. Her half-brother, whom she had never met, later died in a car accident and was buried in Iceland. Inga, who was 12 at the time, attended the funeral.

“At the funeral, I saw my biological mother for the first time and immediately realised who she was. When she saw me, she just froze,” Inga says.

She later contacted her maternal grandmother, who told her that she and the rest of the family had repeatedly tried to persuade Inga’s mother to reveal the father’s identity, but that she had always refused.

After the accident, Inga’s mother moved home and then back to Keflavík. The two occasionally encountered each other, and on one occasion her mother gave her a note with her telephone number. They spoke from time to time, but Inga says her mother was always very strange towards her.

As the years passed, Inga’s curiosity grew. She searched church records and adoption documents in the hope of finding her father’s name, but found nothing.

“I felt that something was missing in my heart. Every child has the right to know who their parents are,” she says.

When Inga was 25, she was diagnosed with severe rheumatism. As part of a medical study, she was asked whether the condition ran in her family, but she could not answer questions about her father’s side.

She then asked her biological mother whether rheumatism ran in her family. Her mother said it did not. When Inga asked whether she knew if it ran in her biological father’s family, her mother immediately replied that it did not.

“I said to her: ‘So you know who my father is!’ She replied that she could not tell me after all these years,” Inga says.

Inga told her mother that she was not trying to ruin anything, but desperately wanted to know who her father was and believed she had the right to know. Her mother refused to tell her, and the conversation ended badly. Inga says they have not spoken since, although she still encounters her mother in shops and elsewhere.

One thing did come from the conversation: Inga’s mother revealed that her biological father was American.

Inga eventually met her father when she was 50, one year before his death. She discovered that she had numerous half-siblings.