Photo: Courtesy of Rachael Robertson and Criss Rosenlof
It was a moment they hoped would one day come, but were uncertain would ever happen.
“I literally screamed and threw my phone across the room, which startled my husband,” Rachael Robertson tells PEOPLE of the morning in August 2019 when she received a life-changing message in her inbox.
While Criss said he would support Rachael’s mother and raise their child the best he could, she decided to move to be with family.
Courtesy of Rachael Robertson and Criss Rosenlof
“When Rachael was born I received a phone call from her mother telling me that she had delivered a daughter, and asking if I wanted to see her,” Criss adds. “I asked if she was still determined to give the child up for adoption and she said she was, and so I decided I did not want to see her because I didn’t think I could handle seeing her and then giving her up.”
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Criss, who is now married with three children, never forgot about the daughter he never met. His wife, he says, has been supportive of his search for Rachael throughout their relationship.
As they’d later find out, Criss submitted his DNA samples to MyHeritage.com about a year after Rachael. When he did so, he believed the chances were slim that it would eventually lead to his daughter.
“I took the DNA test, knowing it was a long shot,” he tells PEOPLE. “There are several companies that offer DNA testing, and honestly, what was the likelihood that my daughter had even performed a DNA test, let alone done so through the same company I was using?”
But weeks later, he received a MyHeritage.com message notifying him of a match.
“When I received the email with my results about 3 weeks later,” he recalls, “you can imagine my surprise that at the top of the list was a young woman who shared roughly 50 percent of my DNA with the relationship of ‘daughter.'”
After exchanging messages on the platform, the two met for lunch — something that Criss admits he was “terrified” about.
“Was she going to be angry at me for giving her up for adoption? Did she have a good life? Did she even want to get to know me?” Criss says. “Rachael turned out to be a sweet, loving soul, easily more scared than I was.”
Adds Rachael: “I was so excited but so nervous. But once we started talking, we had so much in common! I had so much fun talking with him, even though I was still overwhelmed. Even then, Criss understood my anxiety and allowed me to go at my speed for everything. "
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Both Criss and Rachael’s families have met since their reunion, and the two even discovered Rachael had grown up near where Criss lives. And against all odds, Rachael’s husband had already met Criss two years earlier at a Comic-Con convention.
The father-daughter duo from Utah believes destiny helped bring them together.
“When I started looking for my biological parents, I knew that there was a possibility that I would find someone who didn’t want me in their lives,” Rachael says. “I was ready to accept that, as that would be their choice. I just wanted to know the why and know a bit of my history. But to find someone who is so kind, and wanted me in his life and was actually searching for me as well, and welcomed my family and me in with such love is more than I could have ever asked for.”
Adds Criss: “I’m just glad that I was able to find Rachael. I always felt so guilty about giving her up and wondered through the years whatever happened to her. I know that adoption is actually the loving answer in some situations, and I’m glad that Rachael’s mom and I were able to provide a loving daughter for her new family. I’m even happier that she and her family are back in my life.”
source: people.com
