Tennessee woman tracked down her birth dad after 46 years — the first thing she asked him stopped him cold
They didn’t need a paternity test, as the shocking resemblance said it all
Trigger Warning: This article contains themes of domestic abuse that some readers may find distressing.
For 46 years, Paul Lonardo, a Cranstonian, knew nothing about his biological daughter. However, at the age of 66, she reached out to him, and he surprised her by asking a question she had dreamt of all her life. That's how the father-daughter duo found the family they had both been missing for nearly half a century, according to The Washington Post on April 29, 2026.
A traumatic childhood
Born in Germany, Jennifer Skiles was only a toddler when Cheryl Brown, her birth mom, gave her up for adoption. Her stepfather was downright abusive and, at one point, had even attempted to kill her and her mother by setting them on fire. With hopes of a brighter and better future, Skiles' mom put her up for adoption in the U.S., and ultimately, she was adopted at three years old by a family with siblings. "She (Brown, her birth mom) did what she could, so there was never any anger or resentment [about the adoption]," Skiles told WBIR Channel 10.
The first few years were "wonderful," as she described, until Skiles turned 12, and her adoptive father started abusing her. The traumatizing phase lasted for about six years until the man died of a heart attack. During the same period, Skiles also learned about her adoption from her older sister. Unfortunately, seven years later, she also lost her adoptive mother to cancer when she was 25, and that's when her search for her birth family began.
Finding mom's social security number
Skiles' elder sister knew her birth mom and had told her about the last place she lived in — Texas. With that in mind, she moved to Germany with her then-husband and kids to get her original birth certificate, which led her to find her mom's Social Security number. For about a year, she did not do anything about it until she finally decided to pay $29.99 for an internet search to find her mom. As expected, that worked, and Skiles sent a letter to her birth mom's residence.
Two weeks later, Brown called her, and that marked the beginning of their bond. Even with her birth mom by her side, Skiles felt something was still missing, and that's when she started questioning about her father. Brown told her his name, but confirmed he had no idea about her existence. The former couple had met in the late 1970s when they both served in the military at Fort Dix in New Jersey. After a romantic weekend in a hotel, both went their separate ways and never spoke to each other again.
The missing piece of the puzzle
Twelve years after the reunion, Skiles lost her mom to a car accident and was left with just one parent, who had no idea she was his daughter. After grieving for some time, she finally contacted her father through a DNA family match and some investigation on Facebook. "I sent a message to my dad. I said, 'I know you're just as nervous as I am. I’m praying for both of us,' and then he called. And it was just like home. The first time I heard his voice, it was like being at home," Skiles recalled.
Since their first conversation on the call, Skiles has been referring to Lonardo as Dad, and her kids call him Grandpa. A few months later, Lonardo stunned his daughter by asking to adopt her legally. "How about we make it right — would you mind if I adopted you?" he asked, and Skiles broke down instantly. "I always wanted his name on my birth certificate, and now it would be," she confessed. On January 22, 2026, the father-daughter duo made their relationship official, and Skiles wrote about reuniting with her birth parents in a book, "Vault of Treasures."
Search for birth family
A survey of 575 birth parents, 432 adoptees, and 174 adoptive parents (by Richard Sullivan and Ellie Lathrop) found that adoptees are more likely to search for their birth family than their parents. In fact, the survey observed that 76% of adoptees initiated a search for reuniting with their real family, but only 58% of birth families put in the effort to do the same. It means that even when adopted kids are happy in their adoptive homes, the longing to know and reconnect with their birth family remains strong for many.
Meanwhile, reacting to the full-circle adoption story, @flamingogirl57 shared, "This is so beautiful and reminds me so much of my own story! I found my Poppa/biological father, who didn't know a thing about me. We have such a wonderful relationship, and I am so thankful for it. He is now 94 and calls every day to check on 'his baby girl.' I'll be 69 in April. God bless you!" Similarly, @alexpieters2345 pointed out, "She has his mouth and his nose; they also have the same cheekbone structure — it doesn't take a DNA test to see the resemblance between father and daughter."
If you are being subjected to domestic abuse or know of anyone else who is, please visit The National Domestic Violence Hotline website, call 1-800-799-7233, or text LOVEIS to 22522.
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