Ron and Natalie Trecroce, a Canadian couple, made the decision to adopt a baby after learning they couldn’t conceive naturally. After months of extensive research and an endless stream of paperwork, Ron and Natalie visited Romania to see their potential daughter.

1997 was a defining year for Ron and Natalie Trecroce, who had decided it was time to start a family. They had been trying for years to become parents, but with no luck, so they decided to change their approach.

The couple was devastated to learn that Natalie was sterile, but they were confident in their readiness to become parents despite the setback. They began exploring potential avenues for starting their own family.

Finally, an opportunity opened up in Romania. Though it was far from their home in Canada, Ron and Natalie did their best to maintain an upbeat attitude. No sooner had they arrived in Arad, Romania, than the adoption center connected them to a beautiful orphaned girl named Rodica Lavinia Farcas.

Upon first seeing Rodica, Ron and Natalie realized without a doubt that she was their child. Her eyes sparkled, and her smile melted their hearts immediately. They would never have guessed that she had been through hell before meeting them. 

Rodica, only a year old, was already suffering from rickets, a condition brought on by a deficiency of vitamin D. The bones of children with this disorder are soft and brittle because of inadequate calcium intake.

It turned out that Rodica wasn’t the only orphan suffering from rickets in that Romanian institution. Sadly, she wasn’t the only kid left out in the cold. Nicolae Ceauşescu, a dictator who ruled Romania in the 1990s, prohibited all forms of birth control. It’s easy to foresee the disastrous outcomes of this law.

The Romanian government had difficulty giving its people the necessities they required. Many families couldn’t raise their children, so adoption became their only alternative. Some orphaned kids got placed in foster care, but many more were left on the streets.

Ron and Natalie considered Rodica as their own daughter by now. They had a gut feeling that their meeting was for a purpose. So, it was essential for them to learn more about their daughter’s background. They also wanted to prepare for the day she would eventually ask about her adoption history.

Ron and Natalie were determined to learn more about Rodica’s history, so they exhausted every possible resource. They quickly realized that it would be highly challenging to obtain the required data.

Ron and Natalie were looking for information that was never stored on the internet. This challenge made their search incredibly difficult. However, they did have a few resources and records that might help. 

While investigating Rodica’s background, Ron and Natalie discovered that her biological mother had already given birth to another child. Both children were given up for adoption, but the older sibling went to an orphanage in a different city.

The couple felt an immediate pull to complete their family by adopting Rodica’s sister. They looked for Gianina, Rodica’s older sister, at every Romanian orphanage.

A long and arduous journey carried Natalie, Ron, and their two new daughters back to Canada. Immediately after their arrival, Natalie and Ron made another monumental discovery. These young girls had four more siblings out there! 

Knowing they wouldn’t be able to locate all the kids, Ron and Natalie focused all their love and attention solely on the two girls in their guardianship.

The couple was hesitant to change the girls too drastically. Though they wanted them to feel at home in Canada, it didn’t seem right to strip them of their Romanian identities.

As you can imagine, this is the kind of story that spreads quickly. After all, it’s not every day that you hear about sisters being separated and then reunited in a country far from home. 

When Sophia grew up, she finally got around to watching the film this documentarian created. She found it fascinating to watch her life develop in front of the camera, so she cut the film down to a more manageable length before uploading it to YouTube.

Sophia decided to pursue a career in photography partly due to the attention her viral film made about her life. She was also compelled to research her genealogy after watching the movie.

Danielle benefited greatly from the care and encouragement of her adoptive parents, Ron and Natalie. She grew up to be a confident, intelligent, and self-reliant young woman. When the two girls went to college, they ensured that they didn’t go to opposite ends of the country from each other.

It never occurred to Ron and Natalie that their trip to Romania would alter the course of their lives so thoroughly. Bringing home two kids instead of one was a surprise they weren’t expecting. They were prepared for the difficulty of establishing a family. However, nothing could prepare them for the complexities of tracking down their daughter’s family from the other side of the world.