Woman finds 96-year-old mom after a lifetime of search — and hugs her for the first time in 82 years

The bond between a mother and daughter is eternal — it may bend through the lapses of time and distance, but it barely ever breaks. Most of us find it terribly uncomfortable to spend a prolonged period without our mother's voice or her hug, let alone growing up without it. This is the story of a mother and daughter separated at birth, who only managed to reunite after several decades apart, as captured in a heartbreaking video by Inside Edition — @InsideEdition on YouTube. The emotional video pushes for gratitude, for recognizing the privilege of anyone who grew up calling someone 'mom'.

Betty Morrell, an 82-year-old woman, was separated from her mother minutes after her birth. She was born in 1933 in the central New York town of Utica, to Lena Pierce, who had her at the age of 14, and named her Eva May. Lena, who is now 96 years old, had barely enjoyed the glory of motherhood when Social Welfare officials took her baby away because she was an underage woman, thereby barring her from gaining custody. The daughter was soon adopted by a loving couple on Long Island who renamed her Betty.

Betty shared, “My adoptive mother died when I was 21, and my father died a few years later. So, I’ve been on my own all this time.” Curious, she spent years searching for her roots online until one day she came across her birth certificate, which mentioned her mother’s name. She was ecstatic to find out that the woman was still alive! The mother-daughter duo reconnected over the phone at first and finally met in person — 82 years later! Betty said, “My life is complete at this point.” Their reunion was celebrated with happy tears and warm hugs as Lena, for the first time, had the chance to embrace her little girl, who was now an old lady just like her.

Research by Arthur D. Sorosky and others, who studied 11 cases of reunion between adoptees and their birth mothers, states, “The majority felt that they had personally benefited from the reunion even though in some of the cases the adoptees were disillusioned and disappointed in their birth relatives.” Oftentimes, the picture we paint in our heads is heavily influenced by our desire, what our subconscious wants the outcome to be, rather than something based on reality or proven statistics.

For Adopted.com, an "adoption reunion" agency that helps unite those looking for their biological family, Ioana Cartarescu discusses why adoptees look for their birth parents in the first place. According to her, it has a lot to do with filling the "void" one feels within oneself. This process of investigation helps create a path to belonging, to connection, to bridging the gap between pressing questions and delayed answers. Such searches are often extremely challenging, depending on whether the original, biological family wants to be found at all.

After watching the heart-touching video, here’s what viewers have to say. @lavenderflowersfall280 empathized with them by writing, “That poor girl was never even given a chance to raise her daughter,” while @lauralishes1 commented, “Not many people in their 80s would find their birth mother alive.” @Toosick0 expressed, “Just think, this woman hasn't seen her child since she was a baby and now, she's seeing her as an old woman for the first time since she was a baby,” and @jamesdillon3961 wrote a touching comment, “The mother stayed alive so her child no matter what age could have the joy of meeting her I just know it.”