Teen Mother Gives Daughter up for Adoption — Reunites with Her 27 Years Later

A Tampa woman reunited with her daughter, who she gave up for adoption 27 years ago. Get inside the emotional moment mother and daughter saw each other.

Beth Cole was 19 and a student at Taylor University, Indiana, when she became pregnant. After giving birth to her daughter, Rebecca Hook, on October 3, 1993, she was faced with two options.

Cole had to raise her daughter as a single teenage parent or give her up for adoption. She chose to give Hook up for adoption.

While speaking to reporters, Cole said her only option was always to give her child up for adoption because it seemed to her like a win-win situation. She described doing so as a joy she would have given to another family.

After giving Hook up for adoption, Cole said her goodbyes. Her only contact with her precious daughter was a single photo she received every year on Hook's birthday.

The loving mom cherished every one of those photos. Struggling to hold back the tears, Cole said she never regretted her decision to give Hook up for adoption. She added:

"I always knew I did the right thing, but sometimes the right thing is a really hard thing to do."

Meanwhile, Hook has grown and has a child of her own. In January 2020, she felt a strong pull to find her biological mother. Therefore, she began searching the internet for help in tracking her mom through birth records. After finding her birth certificates, the next step was to find Cole.

That did not take long as Hook discovered her biological mom was living in Florida. The discovery overwhelmed her. Once Hook contacted Cole, the latter was also stunned.

Mother and daughter began communicating via text messages and video calls. They agreed on seeing each other whatever the circumstances.

In July 2020, Cole flew to Michigan to meet Hook. The mother-daughter duo spent that weekend embracing, laughing, and bonding with each other.

Cole described their first meeting and their time together as being so much fun. She also said it was easy and as though they had always known each other. Hook agreed with her mom's sentiments; she said:

"It was just crazy how natural it was and how it felt like we've just known each other our entire lives."

After spending time together, Cole and her family had to fly back to Florida. However, they did not do so without making plans for another reunion. Then, Hook would meet Cole's parents. The second reunion allowed the four generations of their family to be in one room.

Hook found out she had three more siblings, who were also blessed to meet her and her child. She was also pleased and said she now has more people to love and more family to have fun with.

Cole has been blessed by her reconnection with her daughter. She described the 27 years she had to wait until she reunited with Hook as being worth the wait. She added:

"Now what my family looks like today is the bonus of a beautiful 27-year-old daughter. It's a huge leap from then to now."

Inspired by her beautiful and emotional reunion with her

after 27 years, Cole started a website that helps others find their long-lost family members.

By doing so, she channeled her experience into something bigger, better, and greater to help people in need and should be commended for doing so.