and I spent the first two years of my life in a Russian orphanage. In 1994, I was adopted... - Sasha. - ...and brought to New Zealand. I had a great Kiwi childhood, but I couldn't help feeling like something was missing. So eight years ago, I set out to find my birth family. Privyet. Hello. 'It was the best decision of my life.' Hello. - Hello. - And now I help others do the same. So how can I help? - I have tried to look for my family and I've had no luck. - Do you have any memories from the orphanage? - No. Can't remember a single thing. - Countless people across the world just like me... ...want to reconnect with their missing families. - We're really happy for her. - Hey. - Welcome to St Petersburg. - TEARFULLY: It's more emotional than what I've ever considered. - Good luck. - (SOBS) - Join us on these amazing journeys as we cross continents to see families reunited. (AMBIENT, PERCUSSIVE MUSIC) www.able.co.nz Copyright Able 2022 - I've just arrived here in Wellington, and I'm on my way to Upper Hutt to see my brother Andrei. We're both adopted from the same orphanage, and we are actually both the same age. He's reached out to me in hoping that I can reunite him with his birth father. (HOPEFUL MUSIC) My brother Andrei lives in Upper Hutt with his girlfriend, Charlotte. - CHARLOTTE: Wow. (CHUCKLES) - ANDREI: Home sweet home. - Gonna be amazing. - Yeah, our first home together, where we're living together. - Very ex` (KISSES) `citing. - We're building a house. And that will be done in the next six months. - So Andrei and I have now been together for just over 10 months now. Um, he's such a lovely guy. He's so cheeky and I love him to bits. And he's got the biggest smile in the world. - After high school, Andrei moved to Wellington for university and stayed on for work. - At the moment, I work in the city for Department of Internal Affairs in the HR team, and... my teammates and my manager's real cool, and... yeah, I... absolutely love it. - Andrei and I spent the first two years of our lives in the same orphanage in Arkhangelsk, Russia. Having different birth parents, it wasn't until we were adopted that we became brothers. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Yeah. Good. Good, good, good. - How'd you miss that? - I'm happy about that. - My brother Alex and I have a pretty strong relationship. We're not constantly in contact with each other like every day, but we call each other whenever we can or whenever we both have a spare moment. - The score can't go anywhere, Andrei. It's shocking. - Still winning. - (CHUCKLES) - No passengers in this game. - See, that's where we could go. If we go back,... we could go to... - St` in St Petersburg? Yeah. - Yeah. - The story of how Andrei and I became brothers begins in England during the late 1980s. - I'd decided to go overseas for one year, but I ended up staying away for four, and that's where I met Mark. - But after our parents married, starting a family didn't go as planned. - Well, when we found out that the chances of us having a family were slim, we then went on to the New Zealand adoption list there, but there was virtually no children that were able to be adopted. I was working for Inland Revenue in Whangarei and there was a guy there whose family had been to Russia and adopted two little girls. We sorta thought, 'Well, maybe it's something that we could achieve.' Because there's a definite family at the end of it, if you wanted to go through everything. ICANZ Inter-Country Adoption New Zealand had people in Russia that would send videos over of the children that could be adopted outside so we could see them. - I said to Janice, 'Well, what do y` what do you think?' And... said there was a little guy with hiccups, who was Andrei. And she really took a shine to Alex, her little prince. - I think that's what they called him in the orphanage. - Yeah. - The little prince? - I just wanted to put out, when my parents came and found me, they saw me first, so... (CHUCKLES) - We knew we could get, um, Andrei, but we didn't know that we could get two until we actually got over there. (INDISTINCT CHATTER) - We took paperwork for two on the off chance. We thought, while we were there, if we can get two, and let's get a family to go back. - Like most of the kids in the orphanage, we had minor health issues. I had asthma, and Andrei has a mild form of cerebral palsy. - I have pretty mild cerebral palsy. It's just like... it's more my speech. I have a bit of a speech impediment. - He was very tiny. He was two, but he was probably` had a body of a... maybe a 10- or 11-month-old. Weighed next to nothing, but he just had something of` you know, some brightness about him, didn't he? - Mm. Oh, he was a little... (INHALES) a little cutie. - Mm. - Mm. - Alex, he would take your hand, but he wouldn't look at you. And then the odd time, you'd see him go, you know... but, um, he didn't wanna look you in the eye. But we just played around. You know, took him for walks. So they were just getting used to us, I guess. - Luckily for me and Andrei, Mum and Dad didn't let our health issues put them off. - And on the last morning, we left the orphanage about 5 o'clock in the morning, and they had all these kids lined up. They had them all dressed up in their... in, like, their Sunday best, you know? Just thinking of these, what, 15 little kids lined up at 5 o'clock in the morning, waving out. - (BOTH CHUCKLE LIGHTLY) - (INHALES, BREATHES SHAKILY) TEARFULLY: Shit. VOICE BREAKS: I've done it again. - CHUCKLES: Gets him every time. - (EXHALES SHAKILY) You know, I still think about it. - Dad went ahead to New Zealand to smooth the way with the final paperwork, leaving Mum to bring us on her own. With the long plane journey ahead, Mum was advised to give us a mild sedative. - Yeah, so she gave them and it had the opposite effect. - But it had the opposite effect... on Alex. - Alex is bloody... - Yeah, that's what I found out. - ...up and down the aisle of the plane and doing cartwheels and whatever, so there was... - (SCOFFS, CHUCKLES) No, it wasn't funny, I'll tell ya. - She was a frazzled mess when I met them at the airport. - And I had... Yeah. - Back in New Zealand, Andrei got the specialist help he needed. - He wasn't walking when we got him home, so went to Child Health Centre to strengthen him up. And, um, once he sort of got the use of his legs, he was away, wasn't he? - Yeah. - We had him home in the August and he was walking by the Christmas. - (LAUGHS) - And he loved it. You could see it on his face, couldn't you? This big smile went on every time he started walking. He'd be off. (CHUCKLES) - And Janice just took to it like a... duck to water. She was` She was amazing. - (BABBLES HAPPILY) (BABBLES) - Growing up in Whangarei, New Zealand's northernmost city, Andrei and I had a pretty idyllic Kiwi childhood. - Alex was a... he was a chubby little-little chap and... - Yeah. - And as he was growing, you know, I always used to have him on about having golf balls in his cheeks. - (LAUGHS) - Which he didn't` (LAUGHS) He didn't really appreciate. - Yeah. Thanks, Dad (!) - He had his little mind of his own and, uh... He wasn't stubborn, but he just... he-he had everything sorted out in his head. They'd have a sleep in the afternoon, and he'd come down. He'd be scratchy and grumpy as hell, but as soon as he sat down and there was food, he just changed. You know, he was back` (LAUGHS) - (LAUGHS) - He was happy again. - Yeah. Well, he's a real go-getter. He just decides on doing something and he does it. And he was like that at primary school. - He can't still for five minutes. - (BOTH CHUCKLE) - Andrei, as a child, was` he was a little cutie. But he was` he was pretty quiet. A very, very deep thinker. When he was at intermediate, he was doing fourth form mathematics. - He's a bright kid. He's never, sort of, considered himself as having a disability, which has been great. And he just does everything that everybody else does. He might have to work a little bit harder at it. - Growing up with cerebral palsy, it did impact me a bit. You're a kid, and you don't know what you're doing at the age of five or six, seven, so... - We were pretty protective of each other. Growing up, I was the only one allowed to annoy my brother. - They still have their, you know, niggles. Alex will say something, which` I think he says it to annoy Andrei, and then Andrei will bite. - Alex knows how to push the buttons. And, uh, Andrei will fire up every time. I tell him, you know... - The one thing I've never teased Andrei about is how he feels about his birth family. - He's been different to Alex growing up; he's always been a bit cynical about finding out about, you know, anything he can find out. - Originally, I didn't really want anything to do with my birth family. - I remember him saying that if his birth mother didn't want him, why would he wanna go back to that country anyway? You know? He just didn't have any interest in the place. This was his place. - I was the opposite. From an early age, I was keen to know everything about my Russian background. (HOPEFUL MUSIC) Andrei. How are you? - Hey, bro. How are you? - Good, man. Shall we go and see some cricket? - Yeah, let's go. - Let's go. 'But now Andrei has reached out to me for help in making contact with his birth family.' (BRIGHT, HOPEFUL MUSIC) - My adoptive brother Andrei and I were brought to New Zealand from a Russian orphanage when we were two years old. I don't remember anything from the orphanage. Do you have any memories? - No. Nothing. With my cerebral palsy, I recall my brain developing a lot quicker when I was in New Zealand. - 'I've always been super keen to find everything I can about my background, 'but growing up, Andrei wasn't interested.' - I didn't really want anything to do with my birth family. - But now, my brother's asked me to help him connect with his Russian family. What made you decide you wanted to search for your birth family now? - When you get older, you ask more questions, and you` you start asking why and what if and... it would be cool to see where I'm from... - Of course. - ...and I've seen photos of my birth dad, and I'm like, 'He looks pretty much like me,' and it's quite crazy. - And you'd like to meet him? - Yes, I'd like you to help reunite me with my birth father and two sisters. Yeah. I guess seeing you do your stuff, it kinda made me, like, curious about it even more, because you've been successful at doing this. - From an early age, I made it my mission to find information about my birth family. - MARK: Alex just kept plugging away. - He'd often say, 'I wonder what my birth mother looks like?' Or 'I wonder if she's still alive?' Or think` you know, he'd think that way. He'd been looking for a while before he actually was able to click on to someone that could help him. - And then all of a sudden, you know, bang, he came out and said one day, 'I've tracked it down to six people in Arkhangelsk.' - And he just kept niggling away, you know. And he got there... amazingly. Yeah. Who wou` Who would ever have thought? (CHUCKLES) We certainly didn't, did we? - (BOTH CHUCKLE) (ANTICIPATIVE MUSIC) - Nine years ago, I took the plunge and went to Russia to meet my birth mother. So, got out of the car. You can imagine how I was feeling. - Pretty... nervous. - Mate, I was so nervous that day. - Yeah. - It was not a walk in the park. So nervous. - Freaking out. Yeah. - See this. Hello. Well, I remember it like it was yesterday, and the hug was very awkward. - Yep. - (TATIANA SPEAKS INDISTINCTLY) (SPEAKS RUSSIAN) - TRANSLATOR: How are you? - Uh, good. Good. How are you? And I was just... Yeah, was just so nervous. Just very nervous. I had a backpack with gifts, and she was just waiting outside some apartment block. (CHUCKLES AWKWARDLY) How have you been today? - (TRANSLATES) - I remember I was just shaking, cos I opened up the necklace and gave her. This is for you. - (TRANSLATES) - And I opened it up right there, and she said, 'What are you doing? Just wait, wait, wait.' All the way from New Zealand. All the way from New Zealand. I took everything out. She would've been overwhelmed just as much as me. - (SPEAKS RUSSIAN) - I'll put it on after. - The thing I was afraid of was her just not being there. OK. I'll leave it in the box and I'll-I'll... - (TRANSLATES) - Take` - (SPEAKS RUSSIAN) - After. After. - OK. - I will see it after. - Yeah, a bit awkward. - (CHUCKLES) To say the least. Every single story and journey is so different. - SPEAKS RUSSIAN: - I will. I will. Since I met my birth mother, I've grown a very slow relationship with her, and my relationship has had a lot of challenges with that to this day. See you next time. - Goodbye. SPEAKS RUSSIAN: - Yeah. Oh, I'll be back. With my birth father, I'm very blessed, because we've grown a very strong relationship. This was meeting Mischa. - Yeah, it's so different. - (MISCHA LAUGHS) - He hugs you. It's almost like he doesn't want to let go. He just couldn't believe it. - Yeah. - He never knew I existed, Andrei. - Yeah. - And Mischa,... ...my birth father, has always sent messages to Mum and Dad, just saying 'Thank you for raising him.' - Were you ever worried what Mum and Dad would think? - Yeah. I was... worried I was feeling like I'd let them down. I knew the support was there, hands down. Mum and Dad love us to pieces, right? - Yeah. - Oh, yes. - It would make my life if they managed to track down their birth parents. It's everyone's right, to know their heritage. - SPEAKS RUSSIAN: - SPEAKS RUSSIAN: - MISCHA: - SPEAKS RUSSIAN: - MISCHA: - SPEAKS RUSSIAN: - MISCHA: - Oh, OK. (CHUCKLES) It's... Oh, I can't say that. But of course, I always felt a little bit anxious and nervous about it, because you are going to another family that you've never met before ` people that brought you into this world. It wasn't easy. You don't just... go. So there's my half-sister, Sonja. She's very... six months old there. - Yep. - She's nine now. For Sofia. - Oh, Sonja! (SPEAKS RUSSIAN) - Do you think if your birth father knew that you were at the orphanage he would've adopted you? - He would've, yeah. He said that. - Yeah. - So... uh, two years old. - (TRANSLATOR TRANSLATES) - Uh-huh. - Um... I was` I was a bit` bit funny on the face ` bit big. Bit... (CHUCKLES) - MISCHA: (APPREHENSIVE MUSIC) - Being able to talk all this through with me has given Andrei the push he needs to embark on his own journey. So I'll go make contact with your birth father and two sisters, and let's see if your birth father is willing to meet you. Giving you a sense of closure, too. - Yeah, exactly. Sense of closure, I guess. That will be great. Thanks, bro. (DRAMATIC STING) (UPLIFTING MUSIC) - Big changes are afoot for my brother, Andrei. - We're building a house. - And now, he wants my help contacting his birth family in Russia. - I've seen photos of my birth dad, and... - And you'd like to meet him? - Yeah. (UNNERVING MUSIC) - (BOTH CHATTER INDISTINCTLY) (UNNERVING MUSIC CONTINUES) - Andrei knows he has a birth father, and a couple of years ago, I tracked down some family photographs. Now I'm hoping my contacts in Russia can help me get closer to the man himself. (UPLIFTING GUITAR MUSIC) I'm back here in Wellington, and I'm heading into the city to catch up with my brother, Andrei, to give him some great news. - Hey, bro. Nice to see you. - Good to see you. Nice to be here. - Yeah, it's a good day. - I love Wellington. It's beautiful. - Yep. - Good to be here. - Why don't you move here then? - Why don't I move here (?) As you knew, I've done a bit of research on helping you connect with your birth family in Russia. - Yeah. - I've made contact with both of your sisters. Now, would you like to meet them? - Yes, I would. - And after a long discussion with your birth father, he has finally agreed to meet with you. Would you like to meet with him? - I think that would be... amazing. - Pack your bags, and we can go. - Yeah, I'd love to do that. And it will be cool having you go with me because of the experience you've had with your birth dad. - I have to warn you, though, Andrei ` you know, there's a little bit of a risk of meeting your birth father, going there. We may go all that way ` he could potentially change his mind. - I've just gotta be prepared for that. And it's a risk I'm willing to take. Yeah, a bit nervous, but` but delighted at the same time, because it's actually happening. Yeah. I guess, what's the point of living life without a few risks? Main part ` I'm stoked and delighted that I've got this opportunity. - So I need to go and book us some tickets. You pack your things, and let's go to Russia. - Thank you. - Hey, it's all right. - I'm just excited. Nervous. Can't wait. I'm gonna be pretty nervous and excited the next... however long unt` until we go. - Andrei's fiancee, Charlotte, is first to get the news. - Hey, baby. - Hey, babe. - Guess what? - What? - I'm going to Russia. - Oh, that's amazing! I think he'll be more at peace knowing that he knows who his birth father is. You happy? - Yeah, I'm happy! - Yeah. Yay. - Helping my brother connect with his birth family isn't just important for Andrei, but it's a big thing for me and our parents. - We don't know what he's gonna be walking into over the other side. I hope like hell that` that Andrei can make a connection with his birth family over there and continue it. I'm just rapt that he's got the opportunity. - Finding my birth family inspired me to set up I'm Adopted, an online community supporting and connecting adoptees worldwide. - And it sort of started off, and I just thought, 'Oh, it'll just be a little thing on the side,' you know? But it's just really taken off. And it's just amazing the people that are contacting him, around the world. - The I'm Adopted community has grown to a network of over 30,000, and thousands have shared their stories. - I think he's affected a hell of a lot of people and their lives. - For me and many others, being adopted is at the heart of who we are. Five years ago, I had the opportunity to revisit the orphanage where Andrei and I lived until we were two. - (ANASTASIA TRANSLATES) - My friend and translator Anastasia came with me. - (SPEAKS RUSSIAN) - (SPEAKS STILTED RUSSIAN) I have no memories of my time here, but it's strangely familiar from my parents' photos. - So you played here. - I played here? - Yes. (STIRRING PIANO MUSIC) Bye bye. (CHUCKLES) - Ah, yes. - JANICE: It was just an old, old kind of building. Um, very basic. And the play area was very basic outside. - MARK: The caregivers were really trying to help as much as they could. And money, the resources, just weren't there... at that stage. I believe it's changed now. - ANASTASIA: If you want, we can leave you alone here. - Oh, no, no, no, it's OK. (CHUCKLES) (UPBEAT MUSIC) I might stay here for hours if I do this. 'It was an amazing experience for me to meet some of the children living there now.' Blue. It's been 27 years since my brother and I lived here together. This is the orphanage. So, you don't have any memories? - No, not really. - You could've been walking around here. - Yeah, I remember... Yeah, I remember out... I dunno. Just... It makes me kinda remember parts. Like... - The photos. - Yeah. - Yeah. - There's photos of me, Mum and Dad and Alex in the park. - Yeah. - And I was wearing a pink top. - What comes to your mind when it comes to knowing that Mum and Dad went all that way to get us from this place? - I think it's amazing. - I think it's incredible, yeah. - I think the best part is they chose me first. - Yeah. Yeah, OK. Yep. (CHUCKLES) All right. All right. I was always the` I was always` I've always been the second choice, haven't I? - Looks like they've kinda made it, like, nice... - Yeah. - ...for what it... - They do what they can, Andrei. - Yeah. - They do what they can. There's one` one single woman there, and she remembers me. She walked me down the corridor, and she was there, and she said... she said, 'I'd like to see your brother come visit one day.' - Really? - Yeah! Olga. - Cool. - 'I had one more task on that trip to Arkhangelsk. 'Anastasia asked me to talk about New Zealand to children at the school where she teaches. 'It's the least I could do in return for all her help with translation.' And your... your winter is... - (CHILD INTERRUPTS) - Shh. Shh. - Your summer is when it's winter at my place. - (ALL CHUCKLE) - Birthday? - Yes. Do you have birthdays there? - Yes, we do have birthdays. I don't want to miss my birthday. - (KIDS LAUGH) - I've been to Russia several times now, but this next trip is different. I'm really excited to be returning to my birthplace with my brother. I'm going ahead ` I want to make sure everything's in place to reunite Andrei with his birth family. (APPREHENSIVE MUSIC) - I'm in Arkhangelsk, Russia, where my adoptive brother, Andrei, and I lived until we were two years old. - I've seen photos of my birth dad and... - And you'd like to meet him? - Yeah, I'd like to meet him. - I'm here to help Andrei connect with his birth family. You pack your things, and let's go to Russia. - Thank you. - Hey. - I've come ahead to make sure everything runs smoothly. (BRIGHT MUSIC) My first stop in Arkhangelsk is to catch up with Anastasia. Privyet, Anastasia. So good to see you again. - Privyet. Yeah. Welcome here, finally, in summer. - It's hot. - Yeah, it's really hot. - So, I know you have an update on his family. - Yes. We have been in connection with his sister. And she was just very nice to deal with, and she's easy-going. Yeah. - And what about Andrei's birth father? - Uh, he's not maybe so easy-going person, but still we were trying to be in touch with him. - So, is Andrei's birth father willing to meet him? - Yeah, for sure. Yes, because he also think that it was, uh, really important for him to meet his, uh, birth son. - So that's really great news. He was actually ready to meet him? - Yes. - Thank you, Anastasia. Andrei's birth father has been ambivalent about meeting his son, so hearing this is a big relief. Anastasia has arranged a meeting with Andrei's sister Tatiana. I want to fill in a few more details before Andrei arrives. Tatiana had no idea Andrei existed. - ANASTASIA: - Can you tell me a little bit about your mother? Andrei really wants to meet his biological father. It's taken Andrei's birth father some time to get used to the idea of a son in New Zealand. But with Tatiana's help and support, he's finally agreed to meet. I can't wait to jump on a video call to give Andrei the news. (FACETIME RINGS OUT) Hey, Andrei. How are you? That's good. I'm` I'm here actually right now. I've just arrived in the village where your family were raised in, south of Arkhangelsk. 'I can tell Andrei has something on his mind.' What have you been thinking about? Definitely. And Mum and Dad gave both of us a head start in life. 'Then, Andrei delivers some devastating news.' - So, I've decided not to go to Russia, because I'm getting married in three months and because of the COVID situation. There's a risk that I might get stuck in Russia, and I've decided to put Charlotte first. (SOMBRE MUSIC) In life, you just have to make the hard decisions. - Of course. I can't pretend that I'm not really disappointed, but I do understand where my brother is coming from. - Mum and Dad in Whangarei are a bit gutted about me not going. But they are 100% supportive of my decision, and will back me whatever decision I had made. - In the background, he's-he's... got Janice and I, so, we love him to pieces regardless of what happens over there. - If COVID wasn't here, I would've gotten straight on the plane, in a heartbeat. - I know it's` I know it's a damn shame that you can't be here, but I'm here to help. See ya, Andrei. Goodbye. Now I have to see what I can salvage from this trip. I have some ideas already. But first, I have to drop the bombshell on Andrei's birth father and his sister that Andrei won't be here in person. (SOMBRE MUSIC) - So I've decided not to go to Russia. It's too much of a... of a risk for me. - My adoptive brother, Andrei, has just made one of the hardest decisions of his life. - It means that I won't be meeting my birth family and finally meeting my birth dad. But it is... It is a hard decision. - Now I'm trying to pick up the pieces and help him connect with his birth family over video as he can't be here in person. Anastasia has an update for me. It's disappointing that, you know, Andrei's not here. He wasn't able to make it here, and now the birth father's kind of put off with actually meeting him any way possible. - When he got to know that Andrei is not going to come here, uh, he was just... he lost all motivation to do that. So, mm, he just doesn't see sense to meet him online. I guess his sister was also really disappointed with that fact, and she was really trying to convince him to do that still. Even when he said his strict 'No,' she was really trying to do that for us. I don't know. He just` He just lost his motivation, and that's it. - (SIGHS DEEPLY) - I think, for me, it's just, like, a bit of rejection. Like, oh, he doesn't wanna see me. Given that I'm adopted, and be` by being put up in the orphanage, that's a form of rejection right there. So, it's like... Yeah, you've rejected me then; you're rejecting me now. But at the same time, you've also gotta put yourself in their shoes. - But Andrei's sister Tatiana is still very keen to meet her unexpected brother. Hey, Andrei. How you going? - I'm good, thank you. How are you? - I'm good. I'm back here again in the village where your Russian family live. Now, I've got some` I've got some news, and someone here would like to meet you. - That's awesome. I'm excited to meet them, too. - I need to let you know also that your birth father really, really does want to meet you, and we've tried really hard to get him here today, but he would prefer to meet you in person. - OK. That's a bit disappointing, but I totally understand. - Andrei was pretty heartbroken when he learnt that his father wanted to pull out of it. - So, we do have one of your sisters, Tanya. - Yep. - Would you like to meet her? - Yes, please. By meeting me over... over video, means that at least I'm not made-up. (CHUCKLES LIGHTLY) She can say, 'He's real.' Hi, Tanya. How are you? - She's fine. And how are you? - Good. Can you tell me about your family? - Everything is good here. Children just growing up. Her husband is at work. And today she's on holiday to meet with you, of course. - That's cool. What does your husband do? Can you tell me a bit more about our birth parents? - When she was six, she got into the orphanage. - When you were six? - And she, uh... graduated it when she was 16. - Crazy. - So you're a uncle of two beautiful girls. (CHUCKLES) - That's awesome. Can't wait to see them. Yeah, I live with my fiancee, Charlotte, and we're really looking forward to getting married. Hopefully one day you'll be able to become an aunty. - (CHUCKLES) - It's quite amazing talking to you, Tanya, because she's got so many facial features that are kinda the same. Like the freckles and the nose. I haven't actually noticed it up until now. It's real cool to actually see someone that kinda looks like you. - She thinks that you were really looking like each other when you were just a bit younger. - Oh, yes. I gave Alex some gifts for you. - This is a hat for... - This is a All Blacks` this is a rugby team. - It's our national bird, the kiwi. - Beautiful New Zealand. Postcards. It's a real kiwi. - Tanya was really happy to see you, not even in person, but just to see you, to have an opportunity to talk to you. She's really happy, and she just waiting for you here and all her family. - Yeah. And I can't wait until we meet in person. - She's really so much waiting for you here. Like, just to meet in person. OK. See you. - Bye bye. It feels surreal. Like, I didn't know what to expect, but after meeting her, I got to know more about my background from my origins. Yeah, it makes me more excited about going to Russia. I think Tanya will be able to help persuade my dad to see me if I'm over in Russia in the flesh. - I really hope my brother gets to make this trip one day. But for me, the last couple of years have been very special. - TEARFULLY: Come here. (SPEAKS INDISTINCTLY) (UPLIFTING MUSIC) - It's amazing to be part of these moving stories, helping other adoptees connect with their birth families. - Oh, man. - (SOBS, CHUCKLES) Thank you. - (BOTH SNIFFLE) - (CHUCKLES) - And coming back to Russia has given me the opportunity to spend more time with my own birth parents. I'm a bit nervous. 'My birth mother, Tatiana, grew up in an orphanage. 'She never had the experience of a loving family.' She's so excited. - VERA: It's good, huh? - It's good. I'm happy. I'm happy. Hello. 'I don't think she knew what to make of me when I first tracked her down.' - (TRANSLATOR TRANSLATES) - Uh, good. Good. But we are building a relationship... - (BOTH LAUGH) '...and I know now, she's always really pleased to see me.' - Yes, I remember this photo. Yes. - 'Although my efforts to brush up on my Russian...' - What? - '...can be confusing.' - Uh... Let's come. - (ALL CHATTER OVER ONE ANOTHER) (INSPIRING MUSIC) - My birth dad, Mischa, lives in St Petersburg now. Hello. 'Although I came as a surprise to him, he and his wife have always been incredibly welcoming.' - When Alex met his birth family, I was a bit worried for him, because he was walking into the unknown. His relationship with Mischa, he's spent time with him and it's great. For me, I think it was a bit, like, I don't know, bittersweet maybe, just cos he got to do it. - Mischa and his wife have opened up their hearts and their home to me and my New Zealand family. - We got an opportunity to go back to meet Alex's birth parents. Especially with Alex's birth dad, Mischa ` he's just such a character. He's a` He's a really delightful guy. Every contact we have with` with Mischa is really fantastic. - You can see Alex in him. You know, the sort of character. He's just very outgoing. He's friendly. He's` He's, um... yeah, he'd do anything for you. You know? He's lovely and he's got a lovely family. So it's just` it's like our family's just got bigger. - Just like everyone I've helped connect with their birth families, the story of my relationships with my birth parents are still ongoing. Making that journey is one of the best things I ever did, and I hope that one day the time will be right for my brother to take the next step on his journey. - Since meeting Tanya, we... we keep up in regular contact in WhatsApp. 'And, yeah, I will send her some photos of the wedding when they're ready.' And one day, it will be awesome to get to Russia to meet my birth sister and my birth dad in person. For me, the chapter's never gonna close, I don't think. And I hope it doesn't. - COVID might've put my brother's travel plans on hold, but this story still gets a happy ending. (UPLIFTING, UPBEAT MUSIC) - My wife looked amazing, beautiful, stunning. - MARK: What are my hopes for the future for Andrei? I know it sounds very idealistic, but I just hope for his happiness. And... he's with this lovely wee girl in Charlotte, and I` I just, um... I wish them both all the very best. - I do. - I do. - JANICE: The same, yeah ` every happiness. A nice life full of lots of experiences and, yeah, and love, and... I think he's heading in the right direction. Yeah. Very, very proud. Yeah. Very proud mother of both of them.