TRAVERSE CITY -- Sally Soffredine followed a trail of clues to discover her identity.
Soffredine, 36, of Traverse City, was a second-grader when she learned she was adopted. Her birth father was American Indian, but she knew little else about her parents. Soffredine knew she was born in Petoskey, so about 10 years ago she went to the city's library and dug up the cradle roll. She looked for other babies born around the same time, thinking she might contact their mothers and ask if they remembered her from the hospital. She tracked down a few names but never picked up a phone.
"I was too scared. I didn't know what to say," Soffredine said.
Then, last August, Soffredine contacted the local agency that handled her adoption. They were able to divulge more details -- precious scraps like her parents' age and favorite activities, number of her parents' siblings and her grandparents' occupations. Soffredine also learned her parents had lived in East Jordan.
Off she went to the small town, where she flipped through yearbooks in the school library. She looked for girls who fit her mother's background, and narrowed her search to a blonde with curly hair. But, a school secretary doused that deduction, saying it was unlikely the girl was Soffredine's birth mother.
Soffredine next headed to the public library where she met a local man who attended high school the same time as Soffredine's father. She explained her quest.
"He said, 'If I remember right, this girl and this guy had a baby,'" she said.
"That's me," Soffredine realized.
Her birth father had died, but she obtained her mother's address and phone number. Soffredine called the adoption agency and said "I think I found them." Her guess confirmed, Soffredine was unsure what to do next.
"Growing up, I always just wanted to see them," she said.
She mulled her options over a weekend. Her adoptive parents had supported her pursuit. Someone with the agency offered to get in touch with Soffredine's birth mother and quickly called back to say: "I just talked to your mother. She's on her way to Traverse City. She can't wait to meet (you)."
Soffredine met Jackie Drenth-Nachazel of Ellsworth at a roadside park on Sept. 8, 2008.
"Of course, we're like staring at each other and we're like, 'No way,'" Soffredine said.
Drenth-Nachazel wanted her daughter to meet other family, so they drove off to connect with relatives and get to know each other. The next day, Soffredine introduced her four children to their grandmother, who greeted them tear-free but with a knot in her chest.
"It's like a story you heard about, but they're talking about you," Drenth-Nachazel said.
Years before, she signed papers to try to make it easier for her daughter to find her, though the closed adoption made that prospect complicated. Drenth-Nachazel was a young teen when she got pregnant and didn't want to be sent away or have an abortion. Adoption seemed the best choice, though no one talked about the pregnancy much.
"When I was at the hospital, I did sneak down and I saw the side of her face," she remembered.
Now the reunited birth mother and daughter talk regularly. They discovered common characteristics, and share the same giggling laughter. Soffredine now explains her personality quirks by saying, "If you think I'm like this, you should meet my mother."
Drenth-Nachazel tries to encourage her daughter and cultivate an "honest, open relationship."
"I just love to listen to her and watch her. She's my daughter. She's like my new friend," she said.
Print this story
E-mail this story
