Have you every had a time in your life when you felt like you just didn’t belong to your family? Maybe you felt like you were adopted because you just didn’t seem to look like any of your parents or connect with them. For two girls from Europe, maybe they felt like this because they were sadly switched at birth and had to grow up with the wrong family. Seems like a real-life case of the TV show, Switched At Birth.
Where It All Started
All the baby drama happened in 1978 in a hospital in Moldova, Europe. Two baby girls, Tatyana and Valentina, were switched and given to the wrong mother after their after-birth bath. Seems like both mothers were not able to take a good look at their baby seconds after being born because they did not notice the switch at all and peacefully left the hospital.
Tatyana Lashtur was the baby girl who grew up with Vera and Nikolay Lashtur. Growing up, there were always rumors about her not being their biological child but the family chose to ignore such rumors. We can only imagine the sorrow and agony to grow up with such rumors. These rumors were somewhat brought closer to reality during their attempt to move to the United States of America in 1999.
Their neighbor told them as they were about to depart that they heard about another girl who faced the same rumors and problems that Tatyana had and it might be more than just a coincidence. When the two girls were switched at birth, they both possessed erratic behavior once they settled in with their families. The would cry excessively and say no to any kind of food. Both families were disturbed with how their newborns were behaving.
Recent photos of Valentina Suman (Left) and Tatyana Lashtur (right)
After the claims of their neighbor, the Lashtur family came to think that the rumors might have some validity after all. Tatyana’s parents flew back and forth to Moldova to look for the other family but the search was not easy. It took them around two decades before they actually got a lead.
The same neighbor from when they first left Moldova, approached them and claimed she knew of another girl—Valentina Suman—who showed more resemblance to the Lashtur family and vice-versa. Just last August, the Lashtur family was able to get Valentina’s full name and contact her through Facebook.
Valentina reunites with her biological family
After seeing baby photos, birth information, and going through a DNA test, they finally were able to get to a conclusion that Valentina and Tatyana were really switched in the Moldova hospital in 1978. Both families were left speechless because how can everything unfold when both girls were 39 years of age already. We bet the idea of missing their daughter’s baby steps, childhood, and teenage years was hard for them to sink in. If only they could turn back in time and make actual memories with their real daughters.
The Reunion
When Tatyana and Valentina met their respective biological parents, they were brought to tears. We’re sure the whole situation was really overwhelming for both families but all they can now do is accept it and move on. Both families plan to form a bond with their biological daughters but still keep a relationship with the daughter they raised.
The case of Tatyana and Valentina is not something new for there are numerous headlines on the internet which talk about babies being switched at birth. One example is a teen girl who was switched at birth but was never able to meet her biological parents because they died from a car crash the same day the discovery of the switch happened. Another case talks about two girls who found out they were switched at birth when they were 12 years old but they decided that they didn’t really want to go back to their biological parents anymore.
Being switched at birth isn’t a joke and hospital officials should be more careful when handling newborns. Hospitals should have a strict and responsible way of delivering babies from one room to another. We’re sure people who were switched at birth have no one else to blame rather than the nurses or doctors.
