A Social Media Like Helps Reunite Kazakh Adoptee with His Birth Family

When Rustam Masimov joined a video call with his uncle in Almaty, he was reconnecting with a family he had left behind as a young child. Adopted in 2010 and raised in Europe, the 21-year-old had been searching for his relatives in Kazakhstan. “Hello, my dear nephew!” were Alimzhan’s first words. The reunion followed a search that gained momentum through a single social media like. It helped confirm the identity of Rustam’s uncle, whose old online profile eventually led to a working phone number. [caption id="attachment_60353" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] Screenshot of the video call between Rustam and Alimzhan[/caption] The Search Begins Rustam’s adoptive mother, Hildie, had been trying to help him learn more about his origins. She and her husband also adopted a daughter from China, and supported Rustam’s efforts to find his birth family. I took up the case after finding it on Facebook, working independently and pro bono. The search drew on family background material, information from official records, and relatives’ recollections. According to background material supplied for the search, Rustam was born on January 23, 2005, at Hospital No. 4 in Almaty. On April 4, 2008, the police took him from an apartment on Chernyshevsky Street after he was left without parental care. He was subsequently placed in Children’s Home No. 2 and later the Zhanuya center. His mother, Zarina Masimova, had also spent part of her childhood in an orphanage. The material describes her struggles with addiction and the termination of her parental rights. Rustam was adopted in 2010. Zarina died in Karaganda in January 2011. The information also named his father, Eskeldy, and several maternal relatives, including an aunt named Natasha and an uncle, Alimzhan. These names provided starting points. [caption id="attachment_60355" align="aligncenter" width="1200"] Zarina Masimova with her young son, Rustam.[/caption] A Digital Clue One obstacle was the surname. Searches for Masimov repeatedly brought up news stories about Kazakhstan’s former prime minister, making it harder to find the family among the results. After reviewing numerous profiles on social networks, I found a long-inactive Odnoklassniki account in Alimzhan’s name. A like left by a woman named Natasha helped confirm that it belonged to Rustam’s uncle. Alimzhan had not logged into the account for more than five years, but cross-referencing the profile with regional databases eventually revealed his current phone number. The first call brought an unexpected discovery. Alimzhan said the family had believed Rustam was adopted by U.S. citizens in 2010. He had not known that his nephew was growing up in Europe. When he learned that Rustam was looking for his relatives, he welcomed the chance to reconnect. Meeting by Video I helped facilitate a video call and translated the conversation, with Rustam and Hildie joining from Europe, while Alimzhan spoke from Almaty. Alimzhan described his childhood with Zarina and their time in the orphanage. He recalled receiving a call in January 2011 informing him that his sister had died from tuberculosis. He said he never learned where she was buried. The conversation also brought a...