Twin foster brothers reunite with rest of family
By Phyllis Moore
Published in News on September 4, 2017 5:50 AM
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Terrell Williams, left, and his twin brother, Terry, now 23, went into the foster care system and were adopted before their first birthday. When Terrell started dating Natalya Dungee, formerly of Goldsboro, she began a search for his biological family and recently reunited the brothers with six of the 13 siblings.
When Natalya Dungee moved down to Orlando, Florida, two years ago for a change of scenery, she never dreamed she would find a new love and reunite him with his biological family.
But now she wants to pass along the same hope to others.
The 23-year-old attended Eastern Wayne High School, graduating from Goldsboro High School before earning her bachelor's degree in biology from N.C. A&T in 2014.
She moved to Florida in 2015 with her older sister, L'ore'al, said their mother, Denise Green, who still lives in Goldsboro.
Her middle child's story had a few "twists" but definitely produced a happy beginning, said Ms. Green, who works at UNC Wayne Health Care.
Dungee admits she was at a crossroads in late December 2016. But then she met Terrell on a dating website, Plenty of Fish.
They communicated online initially, then started dating in February 2017, she said.
"We got to know each other better and started opening up," she said. "He was adopted and the only sibling he knew was his twin brother."
As the relationship blossomed, and his birthday was approaching this past June, she asked him how he felt about finding his biological family.
He wanted to know more, she said. And while she had no idea how to go about it, she called an adoption agency to seek out any background information they could find.
"We were expecting it to be a whole lot of nothing," she said.
But a few weeks later, that all changed. Terrell and his twin brother, Terry, entered into foster care and adopted before their first birthday, learned things they had never known -- their biological last name, Williams, their mother's name, and the realization that they had other brothers and sisters.
"We didn't expect too much but there was a phone number for a man who had been married to his mom," Dungee said. "But it was his old work number, from 1994."
She took a chance, called the number and discovered he still worked there.
Unfortunately, the woman who took down their number transposed a couple digits and a return call never came.
Dungee said they continued the search for other family members, taking it to social media, sending out messages to anyone by that name in the greater Orlando area. That was in July.
"Literally, like 10 minutes later, (an aunt) wrote back and said she knew his brother and sister," she said. "(Terrell) has so much family in that Orlando area. The most interesting thing to me is that Terrell's family has always been in the area. Something as simple as a last name kept them apart.
"I think it's just an amazing story -- literally within a matter of 24 hours Terrell has been able to get in contact with his family and they have been in constant contact since. It's really like a Lifetime movie."
The weeks since have been a blur, but a beautiful one, as 23 years of emptiness, pain, love and happiness blended together into an unexpected family reunion.
"All of their lives they had only known each other," she said of her boyfriend and his twin. "Now they have a whole clan of family who has shown them nothing but love since they've been reunited."
There were a total of 13 siblings, she said, and so far only six have been located. Their mother passed away three years ago, she added.
"It was sad, but it was a blessing," she says. "All types of emotions -- to know that Terrell and Terry come up with family, to know that great family has been looking for them. It's mind-blowing to me.
"My intentions when I moved down to Florida had changed. I didn't think I wanted to be down here too much longer. But then I met Terrell. I honestly feel like my purpose being on this Earth, to know that his family was here this entire time, was to give people hope, that anything can happen."
She has been humbled by the gift this turned out to be for her boyfriend, and says she is happy that Terrell and his brother are getting to make up for some lost time by reconnecting and bonding with family members.
"I never thought that by moving down here I'd help someone find his biological family," she said. "I just really hope it's an inspirational story for other people, if they're out looking for family or they were adopted.