Adopted Ohio woman finds out birth mom is coworker

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio - A 38-year-old woman's quest to find her birth mother ended in a surprising place - the company where she works.

CBS affiliate WKBN-TV in Youngstown reports that La-Sonya Mitchell-Clark requested records that were made available recently by the Ohio Department of Health. She learned her mother's name is Francine Simmons. She looked her up on Facebook and saw that she worked at InfoCision, the teleservices company where she works.

She knew of an employee named Francine. She reached out, and the next day, got the long-awaited phone call.

"I said, 'I think I'm your daughter," Mitchell-Clark said.

Simmons said she always wanted to connect with the daughter she gave up as a 15-year-old mother, but didn't know how.

"I'm still in shock," Simmons said. "It's amazing."

Simmons said after Mitchell-Clark was born, she was placed in a group home by authorities, and only got to hold her briefly before giving her up.

Now, the two only live a few minutes from each other in Youngstown.

It turns out Mitchell-Clark has three sisters she didn't know about. And one of them works at InfoCision as well.

"I feel a sense of relief for my mother," said Kamala Cummings.

"It's just amazing that all this time we're thinking about her and trying to find her and she was trying to find us, too," said Maisha Cummings.

She said her adoptive parents have always been supportive of her, and encouraged her to try to find her mother.

"Now, we've got a bigger, extended family where we can just be together," Simmons said.