Woman on a journey to find her birth mother

 SOUTH BEND, Ind. – ABC 57 is following a young woman through her journey to find her birth mom. A Goshen native who now lives in Jacksonville, Florida has known she's adopted her whole life. But now, she's on a mission to find the woman who gave her up 28 years ago.

This is all unfolding on social media. On Saturday, Kelley Baumgartner uploaded a post on Facebook explaining her mission, and asking the help of her friend to share it and see if she gets any bites.


Now, that same picture has been shared over 11,000 times and news stations across the country have been telling her story.


Baumgartner and her adoptive mom Skyped in to ABC 57 News and say this amount of response has been overwhelming.

Kelley's story begins on February 3rd, 1987. That's when Kelley Baumgartner was born and placed for adoption in the Goshen/Elkhart area.

Those are they very few details Kelley knows about her life before she was adopted by Sam and Becky Baumgartner.

Her adoption has never been a secret. “It's just part of my every day life!” says Baumgartner.

Now, on her 28th birthday, she's embarking on this journey. A journey that could go both ways.

“Whatever the outcome may be I have to accept,” says Baumgartner. “Because I am opening up a door that I can't close now.”

“There's a chance that, she won't be able to find her birth mother,” says Becky, Kelley's adoptive mom. “And if she does, she might not like it!”

Kelley has called Becky “Mom” her whole life, and she's supportive!

“Whatever she needs, I'm here,” says Becky.

The two also say, they're prepared to find out if Kelley's real mom isn't so thrilled about this idea.

“You know, she wasn't guaranteed to like me so there isn't a guarantee she'll like a birth parent,” says Becky.

But despite that chance, Kelley posted her picture on Facebook and she says the response has been incredible.

 “I never would have thought it was going to break like this though!” says Kelley.

Her picture has been shared on Facebook over 11,000 times she says people have already called in with information.

Kelley says all she knows about her birth mother is that she was a hair dresser working in South Bend and she had Kelley at a really young age.

That's not a lot of information to go on, but if you think you can help her, you can reach Kelley here!

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