Community Corner

Siblings Separated As Children In Germany Meet For First Time In St. Louis

You could say it was a family reunion that was decades in the making.

(CBS)

July 18, 2021

    You could say it was a family reunion that was decades in the making. Three siblings who were separated as young children connected online a few months ago and met in St. Louis this weekend, face-to-face, for the first time.

    Find out what's happening in St. Louisfor free with the latest updates from Patch.

    ST. LOUIS (KMOV.com) -- You could say it was a family reunion that was decades in the making. Three siblings who were separated as young children connected online a few months ago and met in St. Louis this weekend, face-to-face, for the first time.
    "It's truly a blessing. We all get along good. We're in love with each other," said Diana Ross.
    Ross, Tanja Griffin, Larry Pleass and a 4th sibling who couldn't make the reunion, were all born to the same mother in Germany. However, they said she couldn't afford to care for all of them and gave up Ross and Pleass to be adopted.

    "I was adopted in Germany and then came back and stayed with my family in the Colorado area," said Pleass.
    Griffin and a sister were raised by their mother who now lives in the St. Louis area. Griffin said she found out at age 30 that she had two other siblings and was about to hire someone to help her find them.
    "A private investigator," she said.
    Ross knew she'd been adopted and had already begun to search with the help of her husband, Earl. She said they recently did a search online for anyone closely linked by DNA and that's how she discovered the name of her mother and late father. Another search found an obituary with the names of children and soon Ross was reaching out on social media.

    Find out what's happening in St. Louisfor free with the latest updates from Patch.


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