Episode #44
My Birth Father's Family Ghosted Us — So I'm Speaking Out
In this episode of Finding Family DNA, Jay and co-host Misty Gillis introduce Carla Salvatierra, a 29-year-old woman born in Los Angeles County who has spent years searching for the truth about her biological father. After discovering that neither the man on her birth certificate nor the man her family insisted was her father shared any DNA with her, Carla found herself starting completely from scratch — with no name, no country, and no answers. With the help of Misty's careful DNA analysis and genealogical research into Guatemalan civil records, the team was able to narrow Carla's birth father down to one of three brothers living in the United States. Despite sending letters and making direct contact with one of the brothers, the family has gone silent — and in a first for the show, Carla comes on air to make a heartfelt, tearful plea directly to her birth father. A devoted mother of two who runs her own construction company, Carla isn't asking for money or a lifelong commitment — she simply wants to know where she comes from, see her father's face, and finally have the medical history her children deserve. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen — your support helps fund our pro bono DNA cases. Also, if you want to support our mission more directly, join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/findingfamilydna Watch this podcast right now on YouTube! https://youtu.be/A3QY9_5aDf8 00:00 Intro 00:11 Welcome and case overview 00:51 When DNA matches don't respond 01:07 Misty's outreach strategy 02:16 Introducing Carla Salvatierra 03:02 Growing up not knowing her father 04:38 DNA tests rule out two possible fathers 08:03 What led Carla to BirthParentFinder 09:51 Taking the Ancestry DNA test 10:38 How Misty analyzed the DNA matches 12:04 Narrowing it down to three brothers 13:23 Sending letters with no response 14:01 Ad break 14:32 How Jay finally made contact 16:08 Ruben goes silent 17:20 Misty's theory on the birth father 18:16 Carla's reaction to the breakthrough 21:42 Carla's plea to her birth father 23:21 Carla's family and life today 24:39 Who Carla is — business, family, hobbies 27:06 A message to the birth father's family 27:43 Every child deserves the truth 30:07 Closing thoughts from Jay and Misty Follow the show here: https://www.instagram.com/findingfamilydna/ https://www.instagram.com/lasleuth https://www.instagram.com/birthparentfinder/ Are you looking to find your birth parents? Get in touch with Jay and his team! https://www.birthparentfinder.com https://www.instagram.com/birthparentfinder This podcast was edited using PodShuttle, the fully-remote podcast editing and management service owned and operated by CHOBO Studios. For more info, visit podshuttle.io and follow us on Instagram to see more shows we've helped bring to life. https://www.instagram.com/chobostudios https://www.instagram.com/podshuttle Finding Family DNA, Birth Father Search, DNA Genealogy, Guatemalan Heritage, Adoptee Story, Birth Parent Found, BirthParentFinder, Emotional Reunion, Closed Adoption Search, Family Discovery
