An adopted man discovered his biological family after 20 years when his brother tracked him down on Instagram thanks to his unusual first name.
Iverson Poff, 20, was adopted from birth and raised by his adoptive parents—but always wondered who his biological family were.
Iverson, who grew up in Portland, Oregon had a few baby pictures provided by the adoption agency. However it was a closed adoption where adoptive family and the biological family have no contact, and the adoption agency used had long since shut its doors.
It was July 20th however, that he got an Instagram message from a man called Jalen Vickers; he said he was his older brother.
“I have that date tattooed on my arm, because it was so important to me,” said Poff. “I opened the message instantly and I knew straight away who it was. I just knew.”
Vickers explained that thanks to Iverson’s unique first name which his mom had remembered, it was easy for him to be found.
16 hours after he got the message, Iverson was on a flight to Salt Lake City where his mother and three biological siblings were waiting to meet him.
He described it as the “most euphoric moment” after meeting the family he thought he’d never know—and now he’s planning to move to Utah to be closer to them.
“When I first met my family it was like seeing angels. It was crazy—I can’t even explain it,” he remembered. “I was actually in the process of doing DNA tests to try and find them on Ancestry, but they found me before I had chance to finish.”
Poff knew he had two biological siblings, but the third was born post-adoption agency pictures. It transpired he had not only an older brother, but also two younger sisters aged 18 and 13.
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He described the meeting as “very surreal” and “breath-taking.”
He learned from his mother, Danielle Zimmerman, that she had been unable to support him at the time she got pregnant.
She had flown from her home in Florida at the time all the way to Utah to give birth to Iverson there, so his adoptive family could take him straight in.
“We discussed it and chose not to focus on the past,” Poff said of his personal origin story. “Why do that when I have so much in the present and the future to focus on?”
He ended up staying in Utah for three weeks, during which time he got to do ‘normal family things.’
“When I met them, I felt like the void in my head was filled,” he said. “Like I’d been missing puzzle pieces that I now have. Its awesome. “I have to count my blessings. I’ve been very fortunate.”
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