NEW DELHI (Diya TV) — For decades, Stephanie Fraser carried questions she could never answer. Who was the woman who gave birth to her in India? Why was she placed in an orphanage? Did her birth mother ever think about the daughter she lost?

Now in her 50s, Fraser has begun an emotional search for the family she never knew. Adopted from India as a baby and raised in a White Catholic family in the United States, she is using DNA testing, adoption records, and support from fellow adoptees to uncover the truth about her origins. Her journey has become more than a personal mission. It now highlights the emotional struggles many international adoptees face while searching for identity, belonging, and family connections.

Fraser grew up in a traditional American household during the 1980s. Her childhood centered on Christmas, Easter, and Fourth of July celebrations. India, however, remained absent from daily life. As a child, India, my heritage, and my birth mother were completely foreign concepts to me,” Fraser said.

She said she rarely thought about her birthplace while growing up because she had no memories of India or the orphanage where she lived briefly as an infant. Instead, she focused on fitting in with classmates and embracing her adoptive family’s culture.

One childhood memory stayed with her for years. During a school family tree assignment, Fraser filled out generations of her adoptive family history while quietly feeling disconnected from the project “This wasn’t my family tree,” she recalled. “I just wanted what all my classmates wanted, to fit in.”Even symbols of Indian culture felt unfamiliar. A red silk sari gifted by a relative stayed untouched in plastic for years because she did not know how to connect with it.

Fraser met her first Indian friend at age 18 and the friendship introduced her to Indian food, music, temples, and family traditions for the first time. She said hearing Indian music deeply moved her, even though she did not understand the language. Watching legendary singer Lata Mangeshkar perform live in New York also became a life-changing moment.

“It felt entirely foreign, yet absolutely magical,” Fraser said.

Food also created an unexpected emotional connection. She remembers eating Chicken Tikka Masala with naan for the first time and realizing how strongly culture and identity could connect through meals and family traditions.

Still, she did not begin actively searching for her birth mother until years later.

Fraser said pregnancy forced her to think deeply about the woman who gave birth to her decades earlier in India. During her own pregnancy, she began imagining what her birth mother may have experienced. Questions about her mother’s age, health, and circumstances consumed her thoughts.

“I became depressed and struggled to sleep because I was imagining what she may have gone through,” she said. After her son was born, Fraser said her perspective shifted again. She no longer focused on abandonment. Instead, she began to understand the sacrifice and pain her birth mother may have faced.

Today, she speaks about her birth mother with compassion rather than anger.

“Motherhood is built on sacrifice,” she said.

Four years ago, Fraser’s husband gave her a DNA test as a Mother’s Day gift. The results reignited her determination to uncover her roots. The search has proven difficult. Many adoption records from India during the 1970s are incomplete or missing. Still, DNA testing revealed one important clue: Fraser discovered she is Malayalee, linking her ancestry to Kerala in southern India.

She also found emotional support through a Facebook group for Indian adoptees living in the United States. There, she connected with several women who shared strikingly similar life experiences. Many came from the same Delhi orphanage operated by the Missionaries of Charity. All were adopted into White American families and struggled with questions about identity and belonging.

“For the first time in my life, I truly feel heard, seen, and connected,” Fraser said.

Fraser now plans to tell her story through a documentary project called Maiden India. The film explores adoption, stigma surrounding unwed mothers, and the barriers adoptees face when searching for family in India.

She also mentors other adoptees and is helping create a collaborative book project focused on Indian adoptee experiences around the world. Soon, Fraser plans to travel across India alone, beginning in Kerala and ending in Delhi. She hopes the journey will help her better understand the life she left behind as an infant.

“I’m searching not just for places,” she said, “but for deeper understanding, connection, and pieces of myself.”