On March 18, the Hoa Hiep Commune Police (Xuyen Moc District, Ba Ria - Vung Tau Province) assisted Gabrielle Charlotte Kim Hong Saltet de Sablet d’Estieres, a 27-year-old woman of French nationality, in locating her biological mother.

Hong, whose Vietnamese name is Nguyen Thi Kim Hong, arrived at the Hoa Hiep police station on March 17, seeking help in finding her parents.

Her documents listed her birth parents as Nguyen Van Tien and Nguyen Trung Hiep, both originally from Hoa Hiep. She was born on October 29, 1998, along with her twin sister Nguyen Thi Kim Loan.

Due to financial difficulties, the twins' parents made the painful decision to allow a French couple, Mr. and Mrs. Saltet de Sablet d’Estieres, to adopt them when they were just one month old.

The adoption was legally processed, and the sisters were taken to France, where they were raised. Their Vietnamese names and birthplaces remained recorded in their passports.

Years later, Hong’s adoptive parents attempted to locate her birth family in Hoa Hiep but were unsuccessful. Determined to reconnect, she and her relatives from France returned to Vietnam, staying in Ho Tram, before reaching out to the local police for assistance.

Within two hours of investigation, authorities located her mother, Nguyen Trung Hiep, who had since moved to Xuyen Moc commune after her husband’s passing. Police facilitated a heartwarming reunion at the station, where mother and daughter embraced for the first time in nearly three decades.

Overcome with emotion, Hong and her mother expressed deep gratitude to the local police and all who helped make the reunion possible. The emotional encounter marked the end of a 27-year search and the beginning of a new chapter in their family’s story.

Quang Hung