Carlina "Netty" White, Kidnapped At Birth, Tells All

It was perhaps one of the most improbable storybook endings you’ve ever heard.

Carlina White, kidnapped a few days after her birth from a Harlem hospital in 1987, tracked down her birth parents and reunited with them to the cheers and tears of an entire nation.

After 23 years the parents of the little girl were reunited with their child. Never before in America had so much time lapsed between a kidnapping and a reunion.

If only it truly was an end to the story or the warm and fuzzy stuff of storybooks.

Not long after the reunion, things seemed to fall apart. Rumor had it that the now-split birth parents and Nance, who was raised by her alleged abductor and whose name was changed from Carlina White to Nejdra Nance, had a falling out. Nance was said to be angry over a spent-through settlement between the city and White’s parents worth $162,000 dollars.

Biological parents, Joy White and Carl Tyson, took to national television and seemed dumbfounded that no sooner had they reunited with their daughter, she was pulling away. She said she was grateful to find out who she really was, but, in an ode to her former life, she now goes by the nickname "Netty," short for Nejdra.

In an exclusive interview with New York Magazine this week, White and her birth parents dish on what really went down and how such a beautiful moment turned seriously sour.

Carlina White said she loves her alleged abductor Ann Pettway, who is behind bars and faces 20 years in prison if convicted of the kidnapping, and has avoided becoming closer with her parents.

In an exclusive interview with New York Magazine this week, Nance and her birth parents dish on what really went down and how such a beautiful moment for all of them turned seriously sour.

“I was on such a high when I first reunited with my daughter,” Joy White, the girl’s mother told the magazine. “I was floating on air. I was so happy, and that moment was so great.” Now, she said, “I’m disappointed. This was a miracle that happened. It’s breathtaking. And I just wanted to get that out there, that we found our daughter and that we’re happy. We’re reunited, and I wanted to share that with the world. And it really hurts me that it’s—it’s about money.”

To read more from the New York Magazine exclusive on Nejdra Nance kidnapping saga, click here.

Comments

[loveis22984]

07:19 PM on 10/31/2011

There was no way this was going to turn out well. I am at least happy that "Netty" seems like she is strong enough to pick up the pieces and not let this incident ruin her life. I feel so bad for her birth parents, how they survived all these years and then have to deal with the reality of the situation is beyond me. I think I would have just laid down and died years ago.

[Absolute]

06:57 PM on 10/29/2011

These stories rarely end happily. Family ties are far more than biology. This young woman is a good friend of my oldest daughter. She is not a "brat", she is not selfish, she is a lovely young woman who had a difficult childhood adolescence and then, due to her own investigation, discovered that she had been kidnapped as an infant. She is a loving mother to her own daughter.

Her biological parents have suffered in ways that none of us can begin to imagine. The fact that they were given such a paltry settlement is disgraceful. What this reunited family needed was counseling and the support of professionals. It was not provided to them.

I am disappointed by the lack of empathy in these comments. This is about far more than money. It is about a family that was repeatedly failed by the hospital, law enforcement, mental health professionals and human services agencies.

[maxbianco]

07:57 AM on 10/31/2011

The Apple never falls far from the tree...

raised by a cold hearted thief only to become cold hearted herself...
what other outcome could be expected?

[Absolute]

05:12 PM on 10/31/2011

You're clueless.

[loveis22984]

06:23 PM on 10/31/2011

My question now is who raised you?

[justoverit333]

04:30 PM on 10/29/2011

That settlement money is not exactly a large amount. Why would her parents still have it after 23 years? Hmmmm. Feel badly for her bio mom. Brat.

[amd02148]

07:41 PM on 10/29/2011

And why would she be entitled to any?

[omegas3]

09:24 AM on 10/29/2011

She was raised by a woman that probably was a home mother to her go ways. Tough ordeal

[WhatASweetBegining]

02:03 PM on 10/28/2011

If I were her biological mother, there's a part of me that would wish I had never found her. How sad, indeed. I have read a few stories like this and in every story the kidnappers destroy so many lives. When your mother lies to you, the world appears unsafe, and no one can be trusted.

[Moira Hennings]

01:15 PM on 10/28/2011

why would this daughter think that the settlement her parents received due to her "loss" not be used by those people? did she really think they wouldnt need it, attorneys and such? thats an average of 7000 a year for the time she was missing. whoop-tee! they didnt know she would EVER show back up...if she just wanted $$, she is now old (mature?) enough to make a suit of her own against the hospital. she should be ashamed!

[amd02148]

06:51 PM on 10/28/2011

Fanned/faved Moira.

[Moira Hennings]

07:44 PM on 10/28/2011

thank you..i would say that kidnapper didnt do a very good job in raising her...

[Dianne Jarreau]

01:11 PM on 10/28/2011

Cont'd.
Secondly, A republican Senator who is a privileged child of the old South and raised with the mores of "self-protection". Last but not least is the Speaker of the House who told Vice-Pres.Biden that he feels that he has done rather well with his career. I think it was ingenious of Biden to get this on video which has been broadcast everywhere in the media as a news-clip revealing much. Particularly, the privilege of those who would take the basics of a Contemporary civilized Nation away from anybody who is not of their own kind. I am appalled at what has happened in the country of my birth because I remember vividly everything that I recall of the takeover of a so-called democratically elected Adolf Hitler in the Depression from the days following.The U.S. is apparently being sorely tested by the temptation to follow that route,since it still prefers racism.

[Dianne Jarreau]

12:55 PM on 10/28/2011

I am going to comment that the most important occurrence since either of the events which I have previously mentioned in prior two comments would be President Barack Obama's initiation of the Medical care and hospitalization program that the Republicans are ranting about as "socialized medicine"; and everyone who voted for him can be proud of the fact of how they have contributed to the betterment of medical practice in the U.S. The people who are most in the news at present are Three Republicans like three little pigs: a representative who "writes" papers or has them written for him by the Koch brothers and which spout pure naziism,as was viewed on YouTube video when he had police officers throw a senior citizen to the ground at one of his town-hall style meetings in Wisconsin, the victim's hands restrained behind his back, and taken from the meeting room (because this is not Democracy) to the approving comments of several sucking up to Representative Nameless Irishman.

[Dianne Jarreau]

12:32 PM on 10/28/2011

Continuation from post further down the column: I grew up in hospitals during the FDR administration in the latter part of the 1930's, My father was a surgeon, about whom I often say that he had the kindliness to take me to his job every day where I was left in the care of the nuns and the monks until he finished his rounds at St.Benedict the Moor, Mission to the Negro, where the hospital was clean and spotless; and we went on our way to the next hospital. There were no surveillance cameras then either. I do not know when the program began but, when I arrived in Pennsylvania, I learned from a local doctor that the gov't had begun, by which med.students could reduce their student loans by volunteering for location in either inner cities or rural outposts such as Lancaster County among the farmers(this was before the Realtors made a killing). I would have to assume that the Whites, after the horrendous loss of their infant daughter, were stiffed by a lawyer and a court which would heard an attorney representing the hospital, as well as hearing whomever represented the parents of the kidnapped child. Lawyers often do very wicked things, which, as in this case, I learned from experience.

[F-ierce]

11:17 AM on 10/28/2011

"taught" that is.

[F-ierce]

11:15 AM on 10/28/2011

It makes sense, she was raised by the most brazen of thieves, obviously the abducted thought her morals; whatever you want, just take it no matter who gets hurt!
Surreal!

[F-ierce]

02:50 PM on 10/28/2011

too many typos it should really read:

It makes sense, she was raised by the most brazen of thieves, obviously the abductor taught her her morals; whatever you want, just take it no matter who gets hurt!
Surreal!

[K White]

10:03 AM on 10/28/2011

It sounds like Carlina/Nejdra is suffering from a serious case of Stockholm syndrome if she still loves her abductor. It has been twenty-three years. How long did she expect her parents' settlement to last? Oh, well. I hope this family eventually reconciles.

[Di Gray]

03:44 PM on 10/28/2011

I'm not sure it's really the same. And I say that because she was stolen in infancy. I read several articles that explain the syndrome well. Of them, the following quote was most straight forward:

"It has been found that four situations or conditions are present that serve as a foundation for the development of Stockholm Syndrome. These four situations can be found in hostage, severe abuse, and abusive relationships:

•The presence of a perceived threat to one’s physical or psychological survival and the belief that the abuser would carry out the threat.
•The presence of a perceived small kindness from the abuser to the victim
•Isolation from perspectives other than those of the abuser
•The perceived inability to escape the situation"

http://counsellingresource.com/lib/therapy/self-help/stockholm/

From all I've read in Carlina's situation, she grew up in a "normal" and loving environment. She didn't even know she was kidnapped until she was an adult.

[K White]

08:19 PM on 10/28/2011

Well, my brief comment needs correcting then. It stood out to me that Carlina seems to sympathize with her captor, though. And thanks for the link.

[loveis22984]

07:23 PM on 10/31/2011

Stockholm Syndrome?!!!!!!??????!!!!!!!!!! Do you realize the kidnapper is basically her adopted mother? Why would this young woman feel any different towards her adopted family then the majority of children legally adopted? How would you feel if you found out your mother kidnapped you?

[K White]

01:33 PM on 11/01/2011

Calm down! I previously acknowledged to Di Gray above that I should not have used the term Stockholm Syndrome, but, again, the way Carlina seems to sympathize with her formerly drug addicted captor stood out to me. Adopted mother? Walking into the hospital and taking an infant is not my idea of an adoption, but whatever. And I'm not sure how I would feel, but I seriously doubt that I would avoid becoming closer to my real parents, profess my love for the abductor, and be willing to testify on her behalf. I would likely hate my "adopted mother" if I discovered that she actually kidnapped me. Just saying.

[hattieli]

09:09 AM on 10/28/2011

I think it's sad, that she came looking for money, it just shows you how much she wanted to find her parents.

[Di Gray]

10:24 PM on 10/27/2011

Okay, I read the New York Magazine article and it turns out to be a happy new beginning after all-- at least for mother and daughter. The father has yet to come around...he's having a harder time understanding how she could be so forgiving towards the woman who kidnapped her but be kinda "blase" about them for a season.

I think he'll come around eventually. In the meantime, it's not all bad. Yay! :)

[Cakey4814]

09:11 AM on 10/28/2011

Thanks for the update. When I first read this story I said it gave hope to other people whose loved one has been missing for a while; would hate for it to end like this..

[T Howyadoin Roy]

09:44 PM on 10/27/2011

I don't blame her one bit for shaking of her birth parents. Only a complete fool would think this was going to be a beautiful fairytale in the end.

[Di Gray]

09:49 PM on 10/27/2011

Are you saying it's ok for her to shake down her birth parents? Forgive me...I'm trying to figure out what "shaking" means in your comment.

[amd02148]

06:58 PM on 10/28/2011

She needs to "shake" the hospital with a lawsuit. She is 100% wrong.