'I found out I was secretly adopted thanks to chance discovery moving house - now I've got five new siblings'

A woman said she was 'overwhelmed' to see people who looked like her after finding out she was secretly adopted thanks to a chance discovery moving house.

Jessica Murace, a 20 year old from Manchester, was astonished to learn that she had five biological siblings and successfully reunited with them on Instagram after a 15-year separation. At the age of 14, Jessica discovered that she had been adopted as a baby when she stumbled upon social services documents.

She also found out that she had five siblings - Heather, 25, John, 24, Katy, 22, Nicole, 21, and her late brother William, who passed away last year at the age of 18 - after seeing their photos in the documents. Initially, Jessica kept her discovery a secret from her adoptive parents, but eventually decided to reach out to her siblings and arrange a meeting.

READ MORE: 'We did what was right for my dad, now I live in fear of the police knocking my door'

After tracking them down on Instagram and coming across a group photo, Jessica met her siblings in Birmingham in April 2019 for a "surreal" and "emotional" reunion. Since then, Jessica has been seeing her brothers and sisters several times a year and describes finding them as "life-changing".

Jessica, who works in luxury retail, said: "Finding my siblings has been life-changing - it hasn’t always been easy, but I’m happy I’ve met them. It’s given me a chance to know who I really am."

She added: "It was surreal. For the first time, I saw people who looked like me, it was completely overwhelming."

Growing up in Manchester with her adoptive family, Jessica had been unaware that she had any siblings and had always felt like she didn't quite fit in. Jessica revealed that she was often mistaken for an adopted child at school due to her dissimilar appearance to her parents.

She was initially informed about her adoption by her adoptive parents when she was five, but the memory faded over time. Later in life, when she questioned her adoptive parents about her adoption, they denied it, fearing the negative impact it might have on their daughter.

Her parents, Gillian and Pietro, said: "It is hard for us to talk about, but it was a selfish to keep it from her, and we do regret it so much and live with it every day.

"We love her so much and just didn’t want her to push us away."

Join our WhatsApp Top Stories and, Breaking News group by clicking this link

When Jessica and her family moved house in the summer of 2018, she stumbled upon a book created by social services detailing an adoptee's story - a book she had never seen before. She recalled: "Inside there were pictures of children, and one looked like me.

"That’s how I discovered the truth through social services documents, as a 14 year old it was overwhelming."

Jessica kept the revelation to herself at first - grappling with feelings of shock and distress - and didn’t tell her parents that she had discovered the document.

She admitted: “I cried a lot, it was a very lonely time, especially as I felt like I couldn’t talk to by adoptive parents about it.”

However, months later, Jessica decided to connect with her siblings via Instagram messages.

She said: "I just messaged them saying, 'hey I think I'm your sister' and they asked me to prove it to make sure it wasn't someone pretending - so I sent personal information over and birth certificate."

Jessica and her siblings chose to meet up with the adoptive parents of both families at a neutral location - selecting a restaurant in Birmingham as the setting. Jessica said: "My emotions were mainly shock. I'm not usually much of an emotional person, I didn't really know what to say.

"It was just weird seeing them look so much like them. I saw me in them."

Jessica has built a relationship with her siblings, visiting them several times a year and says it finally feels like they are really brothers and sisters.

Speaking on adoption transparency, Jessica insists that telling children the truth about their origins is vital. She said: "When I found out, I had a massive identity crisis, it felt like my life was a lie.

“But I don’t regret discovering the truth."

Jessica says the discovery has helped her understand why she always felt a deeper connection was missing.

Adding: "I am looking forward to building on our relationship.”