Burger King Baby Meets Birth Mother 27 Years Later Thanks to Facebook

If there’s one thing Facebook is really good at, it’s reuniting people who haven’t seen each other in a very long time. Being able to find and add long-lost friends is a great aspect of the social media platform, and Katheryn Deprill can attest to that! Thanks to Facebook, the 27-year-old woman was able to meet her birth mother who abandoned her at a Pennsylvania Burger King as a newborn over two decades ago.

Deprill began the search for her birth mother three weeks ago on March 2, posting on her Facebook page a photo of herself holding a sign that read: “Looking for my birth mother … She abandoned me in the Burger King bathroom only hours old, Allentown PA. Please help me find her by sharing my post.” (Coincidentally, her birth mother had decided about six months ago to look for the baby girl she abandoned all those years ago.) Her photo was shared over 300,000 times on Facebook and her story was covered by a number of media outlets – Deprill soon became known as the Burger King Baby.

The woman who abandoned her eventually saw the coverage and went to attorney John Waldron, who ended up arranging for mother and daughter to meet. Deprill met with her Monday in an attorney’s office and said that she felt “pure joy” during their meeting. She learned the sad details of her conception and abandonment, and later said that she understood why her birth mom did what she did.

“She is better than anything I could’ve ever imagined. She is so sweet and amazing. I’m so happy,” said Deprill.

When they met, she realized she bore a strong resemblance to the woman (whose name she will not disclose) and said it was like looking into a mirror. Deprill, who is married with three children and is an EMT, embraced her birth mother for the first time when they first met.

“I got the hug that I had wanted for the last 27 years, and that broke the ice,” she said. “I asked if I could have it, and she said, ‘absolutely,’ and just held her arms open, and the rest is history.”

The pair met for about four hours and exchanged contact information. Deprill said they plan to meet again. While she declined to say why her birth mother did what she did, she fielded those questions to the attorney Waldron, who obliged on the story. The attorney said the woman said that, as a 16-year-old, she was raped while traveling abroad and became pregnant. The woman said she hid the pregnancy from her parents and, after giving birth in her bedroom, felt she could not take her newborn to the hospital because she would have to answer questions.

“It was one of the most emotional, joyful, dramatic, exciting things I’ve ever seen,” Waldron said, adding there’s no doubt in his mind that his client is Deprill’s mother. “If you sat there for five minutes and heard them and watched them and observed them and looked at them, you would know.

Photo via Facebook