Unexpected results from DNA testing and questions about the sister
Living half a world away, Phoebe Nguyen always has a deep feeling about Vietnam, because this place holds an unsolved mystery about her origin.
Every time she reads the news about the search for family and relatives, the young girl's heart aches. Phoebe Nguyen seems to see her own image and desire in it.
"I have suffered a lot of pain, even faced deception. However, I will never give up," Phoebe Nguyen shared with Dan Tri newspaper reporter .
Phoebe currently lives in Sacramento, California, USA. When she was 12 years old, Phoebe first heard about her background.
According to her adoptive parents, she was picked up from an orphanage in Tu Liem ( Hanoi ) in February 1996.
Phoebe's adoption file also has a record (copy) detailing the circumstances of her abandonment. Accordingly, at around 10:30 a.m. on October 1, 1995, while repairing a motorbike at his home in Dau Lo area, Doan Hung town, Phu Tho , Mr. Le Hoang An saw a young man around 30 years old carrying a little girl on a blue Simson motorbike to his shop.
The young man left the girl with Mr. An, saying he was going to buy something and would come back to pick her up. However, Mr. An waited for a long time but the young man did not return.
The incident was then reported to the local police. The local police representative and Mr. An made a record of the incident at 7:00 p.m. on October 2, 1995.
In the small bag the young man left behind was a piece of paper with the following content: "Dear Uncles and Aunts! I am extremely heartbroken to have to leave behind my daughter, born on September 10, 1994, named Nguyen Thanh Phuong, because her mother died in an accident. Signed: Nguyen Anh Dung".
Phoebe Nguyen at the orphanage at 18 months old, just before being adopted to the United States.
The people involved in making the record also recorded the girl's health condition as "showing signs of severe malnutrition, coughing a lot, and just learning to sit".
Thanh Phuong was then transferred to an orphanage in Tu Liem (Hanoi) and adopted by an American couple, with a new name, Phoebe Nguyen.
Phoebe has long recognized her differences from her friends and the people around her. Therefore, when listening to her adoptive parents' stories, she became more curious about her origins. She always wondered if she resembled her father or mother, how many people werein her family ? Why did her father abandon her when her mother passed away?...
In 2015, when Phoebe was in her third year of college, her adoptive parents hired a Vietnamese man to find a family for Phoebe.
He found the car shop owners, who were over 90 years old and had poor memories. Some of their memories did not match the information in the police report. Some other witnesses had passed away. The process of contacting and searching lasted about a month but reached a dead end.
"After talking to the couple who owned the car shop that took care of me and didn't get any viable leads, the searchers said there was nothing more they could do because my father had such a common name. At that time, even if I wanted to continue, I didn't know who else to trust," the Vietnamese girl said.
After graduating from college, the Vietnamese-American girl worked as a pet sitter and pursued her passion for singing. Phoebe's obsession with her roots and childhood traumas made her spiritual life not easy. Being friends with parrots, cats, and puppies helped her to calm down a bit.
In the summer of 2024, her cat of 7 years died in an accident. In September, her pet parrot fell ill and died. She felt her life was at a standstill. Her wish to escape loneliness and pain urged her to look for her relatives for the second time.
In early November 2024, Phoebe shared her story on Facebook groups, sent information to a search program on Vietnamese television, and purchased two DNA test kits and uploaded her DNA data to family search services.
A month later, she received a notice from a biological company that offers a family-finding service. The company said that, based on its DNA database, they had found her sister.
Phoebe quickly typed her name into the search bar on Facebook. When the first photos appeared on the screen, Phoebe felt like she was looking at herself in a mirror because her sister looked exactly like her.
But Phoebe's joy was short-lived. She was eager to confide in her sister, but her sister was very reserved. "When we chatted via text, she was suspicious of me and hardly shared any information with me," Phoebe recalled.
Phoebe with her foster parents and pets in 2012.
The older sister then blocked Phoebe on Facebook. Luckily, before being blocked, Phoebe managed to read an important information her older sister posted on her personal page and realized that her older sister had also been given up for adoption.
"She wrote that her mother was a poor rice farmer in the North and left her at an orphanage. She was born in 1993 and was adopted when she was 18 months old," Phoebe said.
Her sister's confused reaction hurt Phoebe for a long time. This was not the only sadness she faced on her journey to find her family.
The girl said that when she posted information about her search for relatives on social media, she received many words of encouragement and good luck wishes. Some Vietnamese people and people adopted from other Asian countries expressed sympathy, gave advice and helpful suggestions, which she greatly appreciated.
However, under many posts, there were also many malicious comments, expressing racist attitudes. Many people harshly said that Phoebe meant nothing to her parents, she was just a zero, an abandoned child... These insensitive comments made her heart ache.
"I think people who are not adopted will not understand the feeling of wanting to know their roots and origins. I believe my father abandoned me because the economic conditions at that time were too difficult," Phoebe said.
The shock of meeting a scammer and a message from the bottom of the heart
Despite facing hatred and rejection from her blood-related sister, the Vietnamese girl continued to search for her family.
Two months ago, someone happened to read her post and offered to help. This person said that he knew someone who could speak Vietnamese. The person who knew Vietnamese knew her father. After many attempts to connect, Phoebe received news about a person claiming to be her father.
Out of sheer hope, she shared some of her personal information but later realized she was dealing with a scammer.
The girl suffered a lot of damage in the process of finding her relatives.
"I started to get suspicious when the person connecting me asked me some very personal questions that made me feel uncomfortable. The person claiming to be my father refused to meet or connect with me, which was quite shocking.
"Thanks to a reliable source, I found out that the person claiming to be my father actually knows English and is able to text in English. Something I thought my real father couldn't do," Phoebe said.
After piecing together the information, Phoebe realized that it was just a drama created by one person. The scammer played the roles of: The connector - the person who knew Vietnamese - her father.
The girl believes that the scammer is trying to steal her personal information to commit identity fraud. Encountering scammers makes Phoebe heartbroken once again. She does not understand why there are people who deliberately take advantage of other people's difficult situations to commit bad acts.
Right now, what Phoebe hopes most is that her father is still alive. One day, her relatives in Vietnam will recognize her story, remember her, and welcome her with open arms.
"My sister hurt me, but I hope one day she will change, accept me as her sister and help me find my father and other relatives," the girl said.
Talking to reporters, Phoebe hopes to receive help from readers and hopes that Dan Tri newspaper will become a bridge to help her find her family.
Dan Tri would like to publish the original message of Phoebe Nguyen:
"Dear Dad or any of my relatives. I hope you and everyone will read this and recognize my baby photo. I am looking for you and everyone.
There is always a pain hidden inside me. I yearn every day to know who I am, who I resemble. I was very sad when I found out that the person impersonating my father, but I was also very happy because I hoped that my father could still be alive, that he would not reject me and would accept me as his daughter.
I also hope that whoever reads this story will spread the search information: The father is Nguyen Anh Dung, he is now about 60 years old and may live in or near Phu Tho. His two daughters were born in 1993 and 1994, and were adopted in the US.
His wife was a farmer and died in an accident. The incident report said the child was Nguyen Thanh Phuong, but some documents said Nguyen Thanh Huong. Please share. Thank you very much!
Readers with any information about Phoebe Nguyen's (or Nguyen Thanh Phuong - Nguyen Thanh Huong) family in Vietnam, please contact the hotline of Dan Tri electronic newspaper .
Hanoi Hotline: 0973-567-567
Hotline HCMC: 0974-567-567
Email: info@dantri.com.vn
Photo: Character provided
Dantri.com.vn
Source: https://dantri.com.vn/doi-song/bi-bo-roi-o-hang-xe-may-30-nam-truoc-co-gai-viet-tha-thiet-tim-gia-dinh-20250515092749951.htm
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