A B.C. woman has found her biological parents more than 30 years after being abandoned in a Calgary parking lot.
In November 1987, a newborn was discovered in a garbage bag in the city’s southeast. She was lovingly named “Baby Mary” by the public.
The baby was adopted, given the name Teanna and moved to Kelowna with her family.
While Teanna Elliot always knew she was adopted, it wasn’t until she turned 16 that she was told the entire story by her adoptive parents.
“It took an emotional toll and it was really hard to process,” Elliot said. “I felt unloved and unwanted.”
In 2017, Elliot made the tough decision to step back into the spotlight in an attempt to find her biological family. She put out a public plea asking anyone for information.
Her story struck a chord with many, and Elliot said that one of her supporters paid for her to submit her DNA to Ancestry.ca.
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After a couple of years, Elliot said someone contacted her.
“I got a message from a cousin that said, ‘We share grandparents,’ and I went, ‘OK,'” Elliot said.
“We figured out some interesting family history. “
Elliot has met her biological father, and thanks to a genealogist, has also been in communication with her biological mother.
“It’s just been such a positive relationship with my birth father and they’ve all been so open and kind,” Elliot said. “I hope to have that kind of connection with my birth mom too.”
But Elliot is keeping some information private, choosing not to reveal her biological parent’s names.
She said that her parents are not together but both live in Calgary, adding that her father didn’t know she existed until she contacted him.
Elliot said even when she found her birth father, he wasn’t able to tell her who her mother was.
“He said, ‘I was kind of a sports star and went to a lot of parties. I honestly can’t tell you who it was,'” she said.
While Elliot is able to tell her story with a smile, there are still lingering questions around what happened that day she was left in the parking lot.
Elliot and her family believe she was left to be found.
“The way that she was left was not a way to be left abandoned,” Elliot’s adoptive father, Mike Guzzi, said. “That was made clear to us by the police and our social worker.”
Elliot said people often ask her if she’ll press charges against her mother but for Elliot, it’s not an option.
“Its been 32 years now, and she’s lived with it for this long, I think that’s enough for her,” she said.
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