Twin sisters reunite through TikTok after discovering they were kidnapped at birth

Identical twins Elene and Anna were separated at birth after hospital staff told their parents they died. Years later, the two girls found each other through TikTok and are now inseparable.

In 2022, Elene Deisadze was scrolling through TikTok when she came across a similar-looking user, Anna Panchulidze.

The duo connected and soon became close friends before knowing the truth behind their 18 years of existence.

While they continued to get to know each other online, their parents revealed to them separately that they were adopted.

Elene and Anna might have been at a distance from one another at the time they found out that their parents weren’t biological, but finding out drew them nearer.

They eventually decided in 2023 to take DNA tests to find out if their friendship was more, as neither could deny their similar appearance to each other.

When the results were in, the girls found out they were not only related, but they were identical twins.

“We became friends without suspecting we might be sisters, but both of us felt there was some special bond between us,” Elene told AFP.

“I struggled to process the information, to accept the new reality – the people who had raised me for 18 years are not my parents,” added Anna.

“But I feel no anger whatsoever, only immense gratitude to the people who raised me, and joy at finding my flesh and blood.”

What was even more surprising, though, was the process of how Elene and Anna were adopted. 

After being born in a hospital located in Georgia, their biological parents were told by hospital staff that their twin girls had died after birth.

However, journalists have found out that thousands of adoptions in Georgia over the last 50 years were part of an ongoing baby trafficking scheme run by a network of hospitals, nurseries, and adoption agencies – Elene and Anna were both victims of the trafficking scheme. 

After the girls unraveled the truth, Elene’s adoptive mother, Lia Korkotadze, recalled the moment she decided to adopt her daughter.

She told AFP that she and her husband could not conceive a baby and that adopting from an orphanage seemed “impossible due to incredibly long waiting lists.”

She then decided to adopt six-month-old Elene after an acquaintance told her a local hospital had her available for a price.

There is also a support group on Facebook run by Georgian journalist Tamuna Museridze – which has united more than 800 families who fell victim to the scheme.