Adoptions A Danish woman was adopted as a baby from Finland to Denmark: Now she returned to Finland almost 50 years later to look for her biological mother

“I have was a wonderful journey, ”says the Dane Lotte Thomsen Rydahl by phone from Helsinki-Vantaa Airport.

It is Monday and morning. Thomsen Rydahl is at the airport waiting for a return flight from Finland back home to Copenhagen, Denmark. He has spent a week in January in Finland and in the snowy landscapes of Salpausselä in Lahti.

However, the trip was not the usual holiday trip in the middle of snow and frost: a 49-year-old Danish woman traveled to Finland to look for her biological mother.

Thomsen Rydahl was born at Lahti City Hospital in the summer of 1972. The biological mother gave the baby for adoption. A Danish childless couple adopts her as a little child about a week old.

Thomsen Rydahl lived his childhood and youth with his adoptive parents and his younger brother, born in Aarhus, Denmark.

Thomsen Rydahl has always known she was adopted. Since she was a teenager, she has been interested in knowing more about her background, but she had no means of finding out. She wanted to know about her biological mother and her own story — why her mother had once given up on her.

“I am grateful for his decision. I just have to thank him because my childhood was very safe, happy and loved, ”says Thomsen Rydahl.

For a Danish woman an opportunity arose to find out his Finnish lineage when he applied for and was elected a Dane Sporløs-true TV show.

The program is better known in Finland as In the footsteps of the lost. In it, people look for relatives who are missing or have never known.

One week ago, on Monday, Thomsen Rydahl flew to Finland with the program’s production team to look for his biological relatives. The clue was information from official adoption papers: the name and identity number of the biological mother and the first name of a sister two years older.

1970s Until the middle of the 20th century, Finland was a country from which children were allowed to be adopted abroad. The majority of children adopted abroad ended up in other Nordic countries, such as Denmark. A few children were also adopted to, for example, France and the United States.

Thomsen Rydahl was born in 1972 Adopted from Finland abroad 56 children.

By the 1970s, social change began to affect the number of children adopted for adoption. The position of children born out of wedlock and attitudes towards single parenthood began to improve. Contraceptive methods evolved, a new abortion law and a new day care law came into being.

The number of all Finnish children given for adoption decreased. By the middle of the decade, adoptions from Finland abroad had practically stopped.

To Finland traveled by Lotte Thomsen Rydahl and Sporløsin the production team worked hard last week to track down relatives.

The work finally produced results. Towards the end of the week, Thomsen Rydahl met his biological sister.

“We talked for a few hours. It was a great experience.”

The sister grew up with her mother as the only child unaware of her sister, who was two years younger. The sisters have a common mother and different fathers.

Ten years ago, the sister had heard from a relative that her mother had another child. However, the sister did not know any more.

“Finally, a nearly 50-year-old secret was revealed, and now my sister knows who I am,” says Thomsen Rydahl.

“We look alike. We have similar eyes and mouth. It’s funny. She also found out she was an aunt. I have a daughter, so now she also has a niece. We are going to keep in touch. ”

In the process Thomsen Rydahl learned more about his background.

“My biological father left my mother while she was waiting for me. She was left alone when she was pregnant with a small child in Finland in the early 1970s, when she did not have the best chance of caring for two children alone. It was hard for him to give up on me, but he had to, ”says Thomsen Rydahl.

“My biological father died in 2000, and I got to visit his grave.”

What about Mum? Lotte Thomsen Rydahl traveled to Finland a week ago to look for her biological mother without knowing if she was alive or dead.

The mother was eventually found in Lahti, Thomsen Rydahl’s hometown. However, he was unable to meet his daughter.

“My biological mother wasn’t ready to see me yet. Adopting a child is still a traumatic affair for him, even though he is almost 50 years old. It was a very, very difficult decision for him, ”says Thomsen Rydahl.

“I respect my mother’s decision not to meet me this time. I don’t want to hurt him anymore. ”

Thomsen Rydahl says she is grateful to know that her mother is alive and well.

“I hope that someday in the future I will be able to meet her through my sister.”

Thomsen Rydahl says she is relieved and happy to learn about her biological family.

“I am grateful to be in touch with my sister. It is my hope that at some point in the future my mother will be ready to meet me. He needs more time, ”Thomsen Rydahl says on the phone just a moment before he has to board the plane leaving for Copenhagen.

“I learned a lot about myself during this trip. I found what I was looking for. I was curious to know who I am and what I was made of. And I found out. ”