Elene Deisadze and Anna Panchulidze, both 19 years old, accidentally found each other on TikTok in 2022. While they were initially just friends, they both felt a special connection between them.
Later, when they were both told by their adoptive parents that they were adopted, they decided to do a DNA test. The results confirmed that they were identical twin sisters. But this story contains shocking revelations.
In 2022, Elene, 19, discovered a TikTok profile of Anna Panchulidze, also 19, who has a striking resemblance to her. The two quickly became friends and later discovered they were identical twins through a DNA test.
Both are students, Anna studies English at university while Elene pursues psychology.
"We became friends without suspecting we might be sisters, but both of us felt there was some special bond between us," Anna said in an interview.
"I had a happy childhood, but now my entire past felt like a deception,
"I struggled to process the information, to accept the new reality -- the people who had raised me for 18 years are not my parent." Anna expressed.
Thousands of children were stolen from their parents, many were informed dead, but in reality, sold to other adoptive families, including the families of Elene and Anna.
The ringleaders of this scandal were medical professionals, including staff at maternity hospitals, orphanages, and adoption agencies. They faked birth records and sold newborns to both local and international adoptive families, for as much as $30,000 per child.
They only knew that adopting a child from the local hospital was extremely difficult due to long waiting lists. An acquaintance had referred them to a 6-month-old baby, and they agreed.
"I feel no anger whatsoever, only immense gratitude to the people who raised me, and joy at finding my flesh and blood," Anna emphasized.
The Georgian government has made multiple attempts to investigate this scandal and arrest those involved over the past 20 years.
However, many families have still not been reunited with their children.
Thanks to the efforts of journalists and family tracing groups, over 800 families have been reunited through a Facebook group started by Georgian journalist Tamuna Museridze.
They were born in Georgia in 2002 but were separated from each other at birth due to being caught up in an illegal adoption ring.
Their mother, Aza Shoni, fell into a coma for a few days after giving birth, and when she woke up, she was told that her children had died.
In reality, their father, Gocha Gakharia, had sold the twins to an illegal adoption operation, believing they were not his biological daughters.
After 19 years of living separately, thanks to a TikTok video, Ano's friend recognized Ano's "doppelganger" with different hair. Ano then searched for her "twin sister" on social media, and they were able to reunite.
The twins met for the first time at a metro station in Tbilisi. DNA tests confirmed they were twin sisters, but they had been sold to two different families from birth and knew nothing of each other's existence.
