April Becker-Antoniou: Woman Finds Dad By Googling Herself

April Becker-Antoniou was reunited with her father, who had spent 30 years searching for her, through a Google search.

Becker-Antoniou's father, Dr. Scott Becker, created a web site named after his daughter, AprilBecker.com, as part of his efforts to track her down.

Becker-Antoniou typed the name into Google, performed a search, and stumbled onto the website Becker had made in his search for his daughter..

Becker's site contained this message:

April Joi (Joy) Becker

Dear April, When you read this, please send an email to: [e-mail]. Im your Dad and I would really like to talk to ya. When I get your email, I will ask you a couple of questions that only you would know so I can filter out the crazies out there. By the way, You have a lil sister that REALLY wants to talk to you :-) Dad Scott Robert Becker"

After seeing the site, Becker-Antoniou first contacted her father over email. As CBS reports,

The two communicated by e-mail and over the phone for the past five days. Becker said he confirmed her mother's maiden name, her birthday, middle name and some other specific details only his daughter would know.

The two eventually met in person, and Becker-Antoniou has posted pictures of her reunion with her father on her Facebook page in an album titled, "Meeting My Dad 09".

In one comment on Facebook, she wrote that their meeting, "went very well. surreal." [sic]

Story continues below

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See video from their meeting -- which took place at an Atlantic steakhouse -- on CBS here.

Becker-Antoniou told CBS:

"He is absolutely my father. I just felt like I wasn't complete and now I feel peace," Antoniou said.

Becker, who has spent tens of thousands of dollars trying to find his daughter and will not be performing a paternity test, told CBS:

"I found my daughter." Dr. Becker said. "I am finally complete."

Do you have a story about how technology -- be it Facebook, Twitter, Google, Yahoo, YouTube, or more -- brought your family together? Share it with us at [e-mail]!

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Comments

[jsgaetano]

Sure is a good thing Big Government created the internet, huh?

[nancyt9]

Ahhh.... the beautiful power of technology. It gives a light to technology... well some of it. It still fascinating how much information there is on the internet. The whole entire world filled with billions of people can be connected now. It is fascinating how many families have been reunited through the internet. I am glad things ended up great for this family. Who would have known that a simple google search would lead Alice to her father. I loved the effort that her father put into finding her, simple but perfect.

[Isi27]

It took me 43 years to find my dad. He was stationed in Germany in 1952, met my mom, she ( they) became pregnant and he had to leave before I was even born. They wrote to each other for a while, mom send baby pictures, but then the contact ended.
My mom never married, one reason being that german men did not want women that had children with Americans and often the children were abused by the stepfathers.
I married a GI that was stationed in my hometown, came to the States in 1976, we have three beautiful daughters and have been married for over 33 years.
Finding my father was never a priority, but when I saw what an amazing dad my husband was and what a great relationship he had ( has) with our daughters, it felt like something was missing in my life and I needed to know where I came from.
I found my father in 1996 when I was 43 years old and it felt like a circle closed and I was complete.
Sadly he died five years later, but I am so thankful that I got to know him and treasure the time we spent together.
There were over 100 000 children born in Germany to german mothers and GIs between 1946 and 1956, we were called the occupation babies and a lot worse, but I am one of the lucky ones, I got to hug my dad.

[Riachelle]

My aunt searched for and found a birth mother who didn't want to be found. It's risky when looking for a lost loved one - they may not WANT a relationship.

Worse, her birth mother wasn't forthcoming with the health info my aunt sought.

Further, my aunt knew she had a full sister that was adopted to a different state. Her father never knew what happened to the child, and the birth mother wouldn't say. I told my aunt that her sister may not even know she was adopted, and wouldn't know that she had a sib searching for her. The best she could do was post every bit of identifying information she could on the adoption search engines and hope that the sister may someday look for their birth mother as well.

A few years later, my aunt's sister did search, and she encountered my aunt's information on her first try! She found a sibling she didn't know she had (my aunt), and my aunt informed her as to who their birth mother was, and what the mother's wishes were (saving her the heartbreak of a fruitless search). If not for my aunt's postings, they wouldn't have found each other. NC protects adoption information, and their mother was in hiding.

If you are looking for someone, posting your information in cyberland (as safely as possible) can be your greatest tool.

Congrats Beckers, and good luck to all other searchers.

[sheilaofmiami]

Im glad I am not missing.

I found my step father after my mother's death through google.

He has passed away 2 weeks before my mom. How odd is that!!! But I had the feeling I would meet him again, until I found the death notice. Chapter closed.

No one else missing.

[coastalcarla]

My cousin searched for a long time for her bio father that left her mother while she was still pregnant. Although she hasn't found him yet, she did find a younger sister who he did the same thing to (that was just about to get married and change her name!). They are only about a year and a half apart. Their father was obviously busy in the 70's!

Being an only child all of her life, she was ecstatic to find a sister. They met up for the first time last month in Florida. You couldn't find two women that looked more alike than the two of them.

The power of the internet

[RaceCondition]

I have been seeking my own biological father, though not for a heart-warming reunion. I would like info about his health, etc, as well as his First Nations tribe. Unfortunately he seems to be a Luddite, and the only phone number I could find for him was 10 years old.

Eventually, when the universe sees fit, I'll find him. But I won't call him "Dad".

[NewArtz]

I'm certain this is a good idea for anyone who is looking for an offspring, only if it's a good thing for both parties to become aware of one another. Posting a site designated to another person's name and identity can be tricky due to the possibility that a third party who knows the person who is sought could take advantage of the situation.

This father put the least information out there that he could about his daughter's identity, which was great wisdom.

As, our individual identity becomes more connected to our online identity, our presence becomes more publicly known and thus more vulnerable to potentially negative attention.

The village is getting bigger.

[Truth Wins]

Nice

[ForObamaInDallas]

I'm glad their meeting worked out great. :)