A Richmond woman who was adopted as a baby is hoping social media will help her find her two half-siblings.
On Thursday, Angela Ellis posted a letter to Facebook, asking friends and strangers to "please share."
"My name is Angela," the letter begins. Written in black felt on red paper, the message is hopeful that the "power of social media" will help her locate Terry Shane Cronk and Shelly Lin Rose Cronk, her half-brother and half-sister, the children of her biological father.
Reached at work on Friday, Ellis, 33, said she has a hard time explaining to people why it is important to find her half-siblings.
"I think it's something that's hard to understand unless you've been adopted," she said. "It's something I need to do."
Ellis said that growing up, she worried her biological parents and siblings would die before she had a chance to meet them.
"I had a wonderful childhood. I love my (adoptive) parents. But to me, there's still a connection with my biological family."
Ellis was adopted when she was two weeks old. Her birth mother was facing life on her own after recently splitting up with her biological father. The couple's first child, Ellis's brother, had just turned one.
Ellis, now a mother herself, has reconnected with her birth mom and brother. She's also spoken to her biological dad, although the two don't have much contact. Ellis is hoping to find her birth dad's children from a previous relationship. "They're my biological half-siblings," she explained. "He left when they were very young, and he doesn't know where they are."
Her half-brother, Terry, would now be 44 and her half-sister, Sherry Lin, would be 41. Both were born in Edmonton. Ellis's birth father's last name is Cronk.
The family lived in Prince George before the couple split up. Ellis has been told her half-siblings and their mother moved to Revelstoke and then Edmonton in the late 1970s or early '80s.
Ellis found her birth mother's family a few years ago with the help of a support group called the Forget Me Not Family Society. She says it has been a positive experience for both sides. But while she found her biological father through Facebook, the relationship has been more difficult.
She knows of other people who have had success finding relations through social media and decided to make her search public.
"I thought why not try it?" she said. "For my own kids, to know their roots, and for me, it's important."
You can see Ellis's Facebook page at on.fb.me/1oYWy2b. You can also email her at [email protected].
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