I Saw a Billboard about Adoption Featuring My Photo — When I Asked My Mom, I Didn’t Expect Her Answer

A woman shared on TikTok that she thought she was adopted for most of her childhood and that her family just didn’t want to tell her. The woman kept this knowledge a secret from her parents until one day she confronted her mom, who told her the truth.

A woman on TikTok revealed how she spent the majority of her childhood believing that her parents adopted her. This woman didn't confront her parents at first and only sat with the information. When she finally asked her mother, she was told the truth.

The woman, Lauren Norris, was convinced she was adopted because she didn't see any baby or toddler pictures of herself in their home. "I had no proof that I was actually like my parents," she added.

As a child, Lauren was quiet and never liked causing a scene with her teachers or parents. "I just didn't want to be a nuisance. So, like, I didn't want to, like, bring up something that I didn’t know if it was true or not," said Lauren

Lauren and her parents also lived in a small town and there was a billboard right across the street from the only Walmart. As a small child, she and her parents would visit this Walmart at least three times a week.

From her earliest childhood memories, Lauren recalled being told by her parents that she was the baby featured on the billboard. "I saw the picture on the billboard and they had that actual picture of me like back, like, at home. I was a literal baby. Like, it was a baby picture on this billboard," she narrated.

Since she was young, Lauren couldn't read the billboard and so, she didn't know what it was about. "I was just like, 'I am like a child celebrity. I am on a billboard!'" she recalled. As she got older and could read, Lauren realized she was on an adoption billboard.

The billboard notified people of the contacts of an adoption agency and the necessary information they needed if they wanted to adopt a child. Lauren, who was around five or six, still didn't know what adoption meant.

Around the age of seven or eight, Lauren encountered the concept of adoption in practice during a visit to church with her parents. While in church, she witnessed a family in the process of adopting a child, leading to her understanding of the term.

Lauren's comprehension of adoption led her to believe that she herself was adopted. She reasoned that since she appeared on an adoption billboard, she must have been adopted, forming a belief that her parents saw her on the billboard and chose to adopt her.

The TikToker assumed that her parents had chosen not to tell her that she was adopted. Still, Lauren didn't confront her parents. She just continued living normally but at the back of her mind, she was convinced that she was adopted. "I didn't tell them, I kept it to myself for several years," she noted.

Lauren explained that she was afraid if she told her parents that she knew she was adopted, they'd take her back to the adoption agency. As she had minimal comprehension of the adoption process, Lauren chose not to tell her parents as she didn't want to lose them.

The TikToker narrated that as a child, she felt like she was holding on to a deep dark secret. She remembered feeling devastated while thinking, "I can't believe this isn't my family." Lauren wondered what kind of people her adoptive parents were and pondered over where she came from.

Eventually, with tears streaming down her face, Lauren confronted her mom in the kitchen. Bewildered, her mother inquired about the cause of her distress. "I am adopted, and you didn't even tell me," lamented Lauren. Taken aback, her mother asked, "What are you talking about Lauren?"

The TikToker explained to her mom why she was crying and how she had concluded that she was adopted. Lauren asked her mom why she and her dad had kept this information a "big secret." Lauren wasn't upset that she was adopted, she was just angry that her parents never told her. "Adoption is a beautiful thing," she clarified.

In a surprising turn of events, Lauren was caught off guard when her mom told her "You are not adopted." The mom explained that the adoption agency was looking for a child to be on the billboard, so they offered the TikToker's baby picture.

Lauren's mom was also surprised that her daughter suspected she was adopted. She had never thought the adoption billboard would plant such speculations in Lauren's mind, that's why they never gave her this backstory.

After confronting her mom, Lauren saw pictures of her mom pregnant with her. "Obviously I was hers," she concluded. Lauren told her followers that the adoption saga was the secret she kept to herself for many years of her childhood.

The billboard that made Lauren think she was adopted stayed up for around 20 years and was finally ripped off by a tornado. Lauren was around 19 when the billboard fell. However, she hoped that it helped other families get children via adoption.

If you enjoyed this story, read about an adopted woman who googled herself at 21, only to find the name at the top of a missing person Ads.

Adopted Woman Googles Her Name at 21 and Finds It at the Top of a Missing People Ads

TikToker Aiesha Myricks revealed a shocking part of her life on her account in October 2023. She shared a video replying to a fellow TikTok user named Susi. In Susi's social upload, she said that it might be bizarre that she had never liked store-bought pesto. Aiesha responded to her video with her own life story.

"Oh my god, Susi, that is so crazy. That reminds me of the time I was moving out of my parents' house when I was 21, and I was cleaning out the closet, and I found a Social Security card in the crevice of the closet that had my name on it, but it really wasn't my name," Aiesha revealed.

She explained that her name was misspelled and the last name on the card was unrecognizable. Aiesha said she asked her mother about it before revealing that she was adopted when she was in second grade.

Moreover, prior to that, she had been in foster care but with the same family. "And the name that I knew that I was born with that was on my birth certificate was not this name. And it also wasn't the name that my name was changed to," she said.

Aiesha divulged it was a third arbitrary name she had never heard of before. As for her mom, she told her that it was a typo and threw the card away, telling her she should forget about it because it was a mistake.

However, Aiesha never forgot about the Social Security card. It made her even more curious about her identity, especially after she got pregnant with a baby girl about a year and a half later.

Aiesha wondered what she would tell her child about their lineage history. All she knew was that she was born in New York City and grew up in Queens.

One day, while at her retail job in Bushwick, Aiesha decided to Google herself towards the end of her shift. She recounted, "I Googled that name, and the first search that came up was a missing person's ad. And it had my name at the top. So, it was a forum archived from 1997."

She said it was from people looking for their missing kids around NYC. They could post information about the children, and if anyone came across them, they could contact them if they had any leads.

Aiesha disclosed that the person who posted the ad went by the name of Chante, who revealed specific details, including when and where she was born and where she briefly lived around that period after birth.

At that moment, she could feel that the individual looking for her knew her. Aiesha, who was seven months pregnant then, was overwhelmed with emotions.

She contacted the person, sent her phone number, and said she was the missing child in the ad. Several minutes later, the person emailed her back, and she recalled him asking, "'Are you sure? Hi, my name is Chante, and I'm your brother. I've been looking for you your entire life. I'm going to call you soon. I'm so happy I found you.'"

Aiesha was elated after learning she had a brother who had been looking for her since 1997. She thought to herself, "How old is he? He must be grown." While asking herself many questions, she received a phone call that made her even more emotional.

She fumbled before answering it, and once she did, she heard a woman on the other end of the call, who also teared up. "And she goes, 'Aiesha, God is good. I'm your mother. I've been looking for you your whole life,'" Aiesha remembered while admitting, "That was one of the craziest days of my life."

A few days later, Aiesha updated her followers following the revelations. Initially, someone had expressed curiosity concerning the legal adoption and a missing person's post online, asking whether her birth mother was involved. But Aiesha explained that it was from her sibling, who had never met her but knew she had been adopted. Their mom did not raise him either.

Fortunately, she eventually met up with their biological parent, Linda, in Grand Central Station days later and brought along her fiancé. She was still pregnant then. Aiesha admitted being nervous about the meet-up because she had questions for Linda. She asked her where she had been the whole time, and Linda told her she was either in jail or Harlem.

Linda did not know how to contact her child and did not have the resources for a stable life either. She had been battling with addiction and had run-ins with the law. Aiesha asked her about the name on the Social Security card, and she told her she had many warrants of arrest for her, so she had multiple identities.

That name was one of her identities, so the authorities discovered it was not Aiesha's last name. According to Aiesha, people assumed that her adoptive mother kidnapped her; hence, she felt compelled to clear the confusion about the name. "My adoptive mother was trying to protect me from that, hence why my name was changed. [...] She did all of this to keep me safe. And I'm thankful," said Aiesha.

Sadly, Linda passed away a year and a half after they met. They had gotten together several times before she died, and Aiesha is grateful that they were able to do that.

She kept in touch with her brother Chante and revealed they still communicate on Facebook. After talking with her sibling, Aiesha also learned that she has a sister named Thea, who had been living in the Lower East Side of Manhattan the entire time.

Chante reached out to Thea and told her he was her brother and she had another sibling, too. Thea contacted Aiesha on Facebook, and that was when they reconnected. In December 2023, Aiesha said she and Thea had been living together for two months.

They have been bonding more over their now-late mother and revealed her picture on TikTok. In the fifth part of her documented journey, Aiesha shared a childhood photo of her sitting on her mom's lap and divulged that Chante had sent it to her.