Local police officer finds birth family in Dominican Republic
One local man went to work one day expecting a regular day. And he ended up finding his biological family in the Dominican Republic.
“It was just, it was a miracle,” said Chris Hinton.
Hinton was adopted from the Dominican Republic when he was just two years old. He was working for a moving company in Utah last year when he met a couple from the Dominican Republic. What was a work call turned into a life-changing moment.
“I asked them, ‘Are you guys from the Dominican Republic?’ and they said, ‘Yeah we are,'” Hinton said. “And I told them, ‘Hey I was adopted from there when I was a little kid and I’d like to be in touch, meet my family some time.’ And they asked me where I was from and I said San Jose de las Matas is where I’m from, it’s a mountain region out there. And his wife was actually from there.”
Hinton was on the phone with his birth mother the next day.
“So my adopted mom knows Spanish and so she got on. We got a three way going. My mom translated for me,” he said. “And so my birth mom was just crying and just, I mean it was just, and everyone was on the phone call. And my birth brother got on. And they couldn’t believe that I was still around and doing well.”
Hinton found out his birth father died seven years ago. He also found out he has two birth brothers. One is a police officer, like Hinton. He now keeps in touch with his birth family, something they’ve been looking forward to for a long time.
“The funny thing is, they’ve been looking for me,” he said. “I didn’t think that my family would be trying to look for me, but they thought, because my parents moved to Puerto Rico right afterwards, and they thought that’s were I’ve always been.”
Hinton’s brother was also adopted from the Dominican Republic and was able to find his family thanks to the same family in Utah. Hinton is hoping to take his wife and two kids to meet his birth family. Hinton has created a GoFundMe page for the trip. If you would like to donate, you can do so here.
