An Adoption Story (S1): Nina's Story - Adopted from St Petersburg, Russia to Rochester, NY

S1 EP9 (2023 Series) An Adoption Story: 22 year old Nina was born from a small village called Bol'shaya Vruda which is located just below Saint Petersburg in Russia. She was adopted at the age of three and a half years old by her American parents who then raised her in Rochester, New York.
Nina has always been told that she has siblings back in Russia but it wasn't until later on after her childhood that she decided to pursue a search. With the time for her that felt right, she was able to learn more on her birth family, with the difficult circumstance surrounding her birth mother to learning about her twin sister who passed away.
For Nina, since learning more on her birth family she has connected more with the adoption community worldwide, building her family tree to build more links and reaching out to others who may be going on a similar experience. She also plays a huge role with the I'm Adopted website as a writer for other adoptees.
This is her story.
// Watch more An Adoption Story Episodes //
EP 12 - Felicita: • An Adoption Story (S1)...
EP 11 - Marina: • An Adoption Story (S1)...
EP 10 - Ivan: • An Adoption Story (S1)...
EP 9 - Nina: Watching Now!
EP 8 - Zachary-Victor: • An Adoption Story (S1)...
EP 7 - Katya Reach: • An Adoption Story (S1)...
EP 6 - Alexei D’Ath: • An Adoption Story (S1)...
EP 5 - Vanya: • An Adoption Story (S1)...
EP 4 - Alex Kuch: • An Adoption Story (S1)...
EP 3 - Anya: • An Adoption Story (S1)...
EP 2 - Vika: • An Adoption Story (S1)...
EP 1 - Alexei: • An Adoption Story (S1)...
I want to also share a huge thank you to Nina's Mum for her help with this story and for Zachary-Victor who came with me to help film this story for Nina.
Thank you!
Where you can learn more about Nina:
www.imadopted....
/ ninamarie615
and www.imadopted....
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This 2023 series of an Adoption story is proudly supported by MyHeritage.
www.myheritage...
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Welcome! Here on my channel I share my journey, topics for adoptees, my vlogs, and support for others adopted, including their stories and journeys with my An Adoption Story series.
As a Russian-New Zealand adoptee, adopted at the age of two from an orphanage in Arkhangelsk, Russia, I share what I've been learning on my journey with my upbringing here in New Zealand, my current life, and how I connected with my birth family. I also share what my bloodline means for me with those connections from Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan.
Be sure to Subscribe if you haven't yet! You can also support my An Adoption Story series by clicking on 'Join' or by visiting www.youtube.co.... Every bit of your support helps. It means a lot!
Find Me on Social Media:
- Instagram: / alexgilbert
- Facebook: / nzalexgilbert
Visit I'm Adopted
- I’m Adopted imadopted.org/
- Facebook: / imadoptedorg
- Donate to I'm Adopted through Givealittle: givealittle.co...
00:00 Introduction
01:25 Nina's Memories
03:26 Going to America after Adoption
06:15 Early School Years
08:55 Learning She's a Twin
09:49 The Loss of her Father
12:04 Early Searches
13:28 The Search for her Russian Family
14:13 Siblings Connection
16:10 Learning About the Passing of her Twin Sister
18:24 Connecting with her Birth Father
19:40 Support from the Adoption Community
21:20 Using MyHeritage to Build her Family Tree
22:21 Visiting a Local Russian Shop
23:56 Being Prepared
25:06 Outro

[@Maria-fm1tj]

Nina, I’m Russian, but now I'm living in the USA. And I should say that childhood in the USA is much more useful for children. It's very hard to grow up in Russia. It's very difficult and stressful school atmosphere, and all circumstances. So, it’s a magic to be adopted from orphanages because these children doesn’t have a chance for happy life. Your American parents gave you happiness to grow up in the happiness. ❤ Be proud of them, you are kind and strong girl 🙏

[@sasharemez7459]

I am so drawn to these adoption stories. I wasn’t adopted. As a kid we visited an orphanage and brought some gifts. On one side of the big room the group I was with was standing and across from us was the group of orphans. When I looked them in the eyes I felt what they felt; I felt their pain of rejection and abandonment. I grew up in a big family and my parents were always in a survival mode because we were poor in the Soviet Union. I didn’t get the attention and love I needed, so I even work parents a child can grow up feeling rejected and abandonment. I know it’s not the same, but I can relate to this pain on some level. As a kid after that visit I dreamed of building a big house and taking those kids and giving them love and support. This is still my dream. I am going to do that after my kids get older.

[@ChellenBobby]

Wow same here well not really my mom had a rough life her mom had 6 kids then her sister died and she took in her 7 kids so my grandmom had 13 kids in the home and my mom didn't get alit of attention or love as a kid so when she had us she thought us that there are people who have less than us but most of the people who don't have keep smiles on there face and don't do that poor me thing so me my mom and my little sister always said if we ever came into a good amount of money we would buy a factory or old school or hotel or something big like that and make it a home like room and a bath room in each one and make a few one room or 2 room apartments and take in teens because it seems like no adopts teens but they can live there we would take care of them and teach them life skills and the apartment rooms would be to teach them to learn how to live in there own and they could save all of there money while with us so they could live good lives and also to take teen mom's and there babies because I was a teen mom but I had mom others don't have anyone and they dont have anyone to teach them how to care for them selves much less a baby but seeing your comment brought all that back my mom passed away on October 19th,2022 at age 50 from her 3rd round of cancer but even now if i ever come into money like that I will still do that because it means so much to me I'm so thankful I had a loving caring kind mom who loved me more then she loved her self and when I got pregnant at 15 she made sure I knew my life was not over and I still do what ever I wanted or what I set my mind to I graduated highschool got a great job and took care of my son who was 2 when I graduated then my niece who was born a month after I graduated but we did nothing but love eachother and took care of each other I feel so bad when I see story's where young women are having babies were and still are being forced to give there babies up against there will so sad... I hope and pray one day it all changes and there is all love in the world .

[@siobhan7798]

Thank you Nina, thank you Alex. Nina you are a beautiful mature young woman, wishing you all the best in your future. Thanks so much for sharing this. From an adoptive mum in Ireland .

[@Peace.Beyond.All.Understanding]

Loved this! Nina has such a deep authenticity in her, she’s so cool

[@IvánGastañaga]

Thank you Nina for sharing your beautiful story and for inspiring more adoptees to talk about their international adoption lives and experiencies.

[@alexgilbert]

Thank you Ivan for your comment on Nina’s story. When I’m back, you’re story is next bro!

[@iamfromthewild]

I was adopted to! Your story is almost exactly like mine and very comferting to hear thank you. When i was around 16 i went back and actually met my mom and sister in russia! Most emtionaly intense thing i have ever done. Also russia is such a cool place to have a connection to!

[@KimKincaid-mc9ht]

Dear sweet Nina, embrace your blessings of having been adopted and loved!

[@elinabiryukova670]

Thank you for your story, Nina. Just amazed how strong and deep you are!

[@moreinterference]

This is a terribly underrated channel.

[@kikomarty4337]

Amazing story, heartbreaking at around 17 minutes but very brave. It's good to see you doing well now.

[@greggentry3793]

Nina, you were great! Thank you for sharing your story and I look forward to meeting you soon! :-)

[@teachersasha9596]

My heart goes out to you, Nina. Thank you for sharing your story

[@nataliella97]

so I think I've commented enough for it to be obvious that I love these videos, but the bit at the grocery store honestly made me tear up a bit! russian bulk candies have the same emotional weight as proust's cookie I swear

[@chrystalcook3239]

Another healing watch, love these 💝

[@CarterKey6]

I’m a parent but I studied genetics and I almost wonder if a twin losing the sibling could be worse than a child. Context I’ve always thought nothing could be worse than losing a child but knowing the shared DNA of identical twins I almost think it could be more devastating:

[@moyasheehy8508]

Wonderful story about Nina!!!!

[@8656737s]

This poor girl glad she has siblings ❤

[@meypuim2951]

I have one child and thought about giving her a sibling but im in my early forties already and i dont want to go through with labor. I dont think i can ever adopt a child. You do your best for them and love and care for them but it seems in the end, they end up trying to find their birth parents, the ones who abandoned them. It happened to my cousin who was adopted at birth straight from the womb into the arms of my aunt. She tried to connect with her birth parents but that didnt go well for her and now she is estranged from my aunt. The birth parents gave you up because they didnt want you. They are fortunate that they got adopted by american parents. There is risk for the parents who decide to adopt children. You devote your life caring for them only to lose them in the end. There is also risk for raising your own biological children. 50/50 chance they turn out to be decent human beings.

[@paulettemiller7237]

"...they didn't want you" is probably not true and an unfair statement. As a former social worker, I can attest that was rarely the situation.

[@meypuim2951]

@@paulettemiller7237 that is a fair statement, it's not always true but it's a reason for giving up on the child.

[@tessmoore3762]

Just because an adopted child wants to know their roots and find out why they were given up and meet some of their birth family doesn't mean they are rejecting or are ungrateful for the parents who adopted them and raised them. If you raise them and train them to be kind, caring, and thankful, because you are that way with them, then they will be that way. If you then support them in their desire for information, they will know you love them and they will love you for respecting who they are. Many times there are sad circumstances surrounding the giving up of the child. They don't all want to, some have no choice. You can't assume they all just rejected the child and didn't want them.

[@artyomgordeev7563]

If you'll some time visit Moscow, I'd love to show you the city and the language 🎈 just reply here