Orly airport, September 17, 1994. It is around 1 pm. Isabelle, an employee of the car rental counter in the west terminal, goes to the bathroom. She notices a stroller near the telephone boxes. No one around, except a man in a suit making a call. She approaches. Inside, a cute chubby baby chirps in her Hello Kitty blanket. Underneath are diapers, a bottle, milk ...
The young woman returns to her post, thinking that the child is that of the man who calls. A few minutes later, the latter, who obviously had no connection with the infant, leaves. Still no one near the stroller. She comes back to the little girl. “When she saw me, she smiled at me,” says Isabelle, moved to tears as she sinks back into her memories. She looks for witnesses, finds none. “It was really strange. »She then warns security. The border police (PAF) place announcements until the end of the afternoon in the loudspeakers of the Orly terminals. No one will ever answer calls from the police.
This baby is Emilie. She was about 9 months old. She is 26 years old today. After being placed in the departmental nursery for social assistance for children (ASE) in Sucy-en-Brie (Val-de-Marne), she will be adopted by a couple from Val-de-Marne a year later. .
"I'm not looking for love, just explanations"
Despite all the love received by this benevolent family, Emilie feels a terrible void: “I have a hole in my story. It's like I'm living on a house of cards, but there isn't the plinth. I need to understand what happened, the reasons that led to this abandonment. I'm not looking for love, family or money. Just explanations, ”says the young woman, who now lives near Aix-en-Provence (Bouches-du-Rhône), where she works in reception in the luxury hotel industry.
She therefore launched a call on Facebook (to contact her "Emilie Mdn" on Facebook or by email at emilie.orly@gmail.com) to try to find her roots, her parents or any witness who could give her information on what may have led to this September 17, 1994.
Emilie's research began in 2017 when she had access to her ASE file. “I discovered that there had been six months of investigation to try to find the person who abandoned me, without result. "
Date and place of birth: "none"
An extract from an article from the Parisian of the time is also included in the cover. Our newspaper mentioned "a baby of around ten months", "rather in good health", without "any distinguishing mark: his clothes, of current brand, his stroller, sold in many places, will not be either. 'a great help to the police to find his parents,' wrote journalist Fabienne Huger, of Parisien Val-de-Marne.
"My file also included reports of medical examinations," adds Emilie. Apparently, I had developed normally, had not been abused or undernourished. They estimated my age at 9 months, but I was maybe older, maybe less. My birth certificate only contains my first name, given by the director of the nursery. All other fields (date, place, etc.) are marked: “none”. It's hard… "
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Her adoptive parents fully support her in her efforts and her appeal on social networks to find her biological family. “She asked us for our consent before posting her message on Facebook. She wanted to be sure that it didn't bother us, explain Monique and Philippe, who left Le Plessis-Trévise (Val-de-Marne) after the adoption to raise Emilie in the Drôme. She doesn't know if she was born in a maternity hospital, if her mother was happy when she was born, if she was loved. It is a terrible void. So we totally understand that she needs answers to help her build herself. "
"I recognized her right away"
Emilie still managed to add a piece to the puzzle of her first months of life. “The minutes of my discovery mentioned the identity of the person who found me in the hall of Orly. This is the famous Isabelle, an employee of the car rental company. “Thanks to Facebook - and after a long search because I had only brief elements of identity - I managed to find and contact her. "
“It was extraordinary, it was a terrible shock, says Isabelle, now aged 48, with emotion. During all these years, I wondered what was happening to this little baby. But I had no way of finding her. The two women meet a few days after this first contact. A moment of extreme intensity.
“I recognized her right away, loose Isabelle. She had the same look and the same smile as that baby in the stroller. She was also happy. "This lady was 22 years old at the time," adds Emilie. This event marked her a lot. She was happy to see that I was well, that I had been adopted, that I was well surrounded. She said to me: It's great that you find me after I found you. This meeting did me a lot of good. "I was relieved to see the extraordinary young woman she has become, a balanced young woman, loved", smiles Isabelle.
"Somewhere, someone knows"
Emilie, like her parents, is convinced that “somewhere, someone knows”: “I was not hidden in a cellar, I had a healthy development, etc. People have known, a neighbor, a friend, I have been seen growing up… But my research yields nothing. Not having my real date of birth, I cannot even contact the maternity hospitals. "
“She was a healthy baby when I found her, she wasn't crying in her stroller at all. She was smiling a lot. She hadn't been mistreated or anything. It must have been heartbreaking for his mother to abandon him. It's a shame that there weren't any CCTV cameras in Orly at the time to find her trace, ”adds Isabelle.
The only track not explored: "In a report from my file, a cleaning lady from Orly declares to have seen a young woman in her thirties, with typical skin, discolored blonde, who pushed like an automaton of suitcases. and a stroller , says Emilie. Who is it ? Does anyone have any information whatsoever? "
50% Indian, 50% European
At the end of June, Emilie obtained the results of a DNA test intended to determine her origins. “I did it on the advice of people who replied to my post on Facebook. They directed me to choose the database, etc. I learned that I was mixed race: roughly 50% Indian (from North India) and 50% of a European parent (French a priori, probably from the Grand-Est of France, or Germany possibly) . So there may be family in France who know about it. "
Monique and Philippe remain confident: “We hope with all our hearts that her research will succeed, that she will one day have explanations. We are always optimistic. In the long run, this should bear fruit. She is part of a DNA database thanks to her test, for example. Maybe someday it'll stick with someone. Even if she does not get the explanations she hopes for, all these steps can still help her build herself. It's essential. "
Missing children: social networks help
Parents with a missing child often find themselves helpless and are tempted to post a wanted poster online. Sometimes, without realizing all the consequences. You may have already noticed on Facebook or Twitter the many calls for help from worried parents looking for their child. Behind these initiatives is perhaps the family of one of the 51,287 minors reported missing in 2019, who is banking on the strike force of the shares.
With proven effectiveness. "Wanted notices published on social networks work rather well," explains Sandrine Pepit, director of 116,000 Missing Children (a free number of such), a foundation mandated by the Ministry of Health to support parents without news of their loved ones. . With nearly 82,000 subscribers on its Facebook page, the foundation is often contacted by parents who want to take advantage of this network. “Our Facebook page made it possible to find a large number of minors thanks to testimonials, much more than on our website. In 2019, the foundation published 71 research notices on its networks.
Nevertheless, "for runaways, we advise parents not to do it, for example," says Sandrine Pepit. Because, even if the online publication of a notice must be validated by the police, "the child can turn and move away from his parents." Added to this are the risks of seeing your photo taped on the Web for life. According to the association, missing babies or pre-adolescents elicit more reactions. Thus, in 2019, the disappearance of a 12-year-old girl mobilized more than 20,000 Internet users. A figure never before reached by the foundation. Sandrine Tran