Mick and Keely Solimene decided to expand their family of six by adopting two girls, Isabella and Olivia, from Vietnam. Years later, they realize Isabella has an identical twin sister, and they go out searching for her to unite their daughter with her biological sister.
Mick and Keely Solimene adopted their fifth child, Isabella, in 2001 after one of their friends recollected seeing the girl in an orphanage in Vietnam. When Keely saw the girl’s photograph, her heart instantly melted, and she felt a connection, “This is my fifth child.”
But when they reached the orphanage, they heard of Olivia, a three-year-old girl who always hung out with four-year-old Isabella. The staff at the orphanage tried to separate the girls before the adoption by moving Olivia to another department, but ‘things didn’t go well’ according to them. They suggested the girls be adopted together, and the Solimene’s couldn’t have gotten happier. So they went home with Isabella and Olivia, two young girls who couldn’t speak or understand English.
The Accidental Revelation
After the formal adoption, the girls adjusted well to the family, and everyone was happy. While going through Isabella’s adoption documents, one day, Kelly learned she had an identical twin sister. Their birth mother wanted to give them up, but the twin was too weak at birth, and the orphanage refused to take the girl. So she went with her mother.
Realizing that her daughter had a twin sister out shocked Kelly. She informed Mick of her findings and contacted a woman in Vietnam to find the girl. After five years of searching, the woman reported that the girl, Ha Nguyen, was with her biological aunt and partner in a rural village.
Meeting Ha Nguyen
Kelly and Mick decided it was best that Isabella didn't meet Ha until they were old enough to understand what had happened. So the couple flew to Vietnam and met with Ha’s guardians. Initially, they didn’t believe Ha’s twin lived in the USA until Kelly showed them her videos.
The couple spoke about how important it was to them that their daughter’s twin sister grew up well. So they offered to shift Ha from her public school to a private school in the city. They also rented an apartment for Ha and her guardians near the school.
At 14, Isabella and Ha met each other. Unlike Kelly expected, they weren’t emotional initially. But they connected over Vietnamese culture and got along well as they spoke.
In 2015, Ha decided to move to the USA to complete her education, and she has been with the Solimene’s since then. Kelly even refers to her as their third adoptive daughter. Now, all eight of them live as a happy family.
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