This woman reconnected with her birth mother in Brazil to find peace. For her adoptive mom.

July 8, 2015

By Anne BaileyThaisi Da Silva

Thaisi Da Silva 16:9 — Thaisi Da Silva's birth mother Geni Roque (left) and Da Silva as a young girl in New Jersey (right).
Thaisi Da Silva

Last week, we published a story about US families hiring searchers to help reunite their adopted, Guatemalan-born children with their birth parents. It's a process that can be emotionally taxing for both the adoptive and birth families.

For Thaisi Da Silva, born in Brazil and adopted by her biological aunt and uncle who moved with her to the US when she was four, her return to Brazil in her early 20s and again this year to see her birth mother was driven less by her own desire to connect with her mother and more by her adoptive mother's guilt for having taken her away from her birth mother. She shared her story with us.

Center of town. Guaxupe, BrazilThaisi Da Silva

Thaisi Da Silva as a young girl.Thaisi Da Silva

Thaisi Da Silva's birth mom — Da Silva's biological mother in Brazil.Thaisi Da Silva

Thaismother — Da Silva's adoptive mother Raquel Silva with her brother Joao.Thaisi Da Silva

Hospital — The hospital in Guaxupe where Da Silva was born and where her biological mother worked as a nurse.Thaisi Da Silva

Town — The view from Da Silva's brother's house in Guaxupe, Brazil in 2015. Thaisi Da Silva

Da Silva's father's grave in Guaxupe, Brazil. Her father, Samuel, died of a heart attack when she was 13. Thaisi Da Silva

Da Silva's biological parents Samuel Faria and Geni Roque.Thaisi Da Silva

Thaisi's uncle — Da Silva's adoptive father Fernando Silva with her in Memphis, Tennessee.Thaisi Da Silva

Thaisi Da Silva is an editor/ program coordinator at PBS NewsHour.