Coffeyville Woman Reunites With Daughter Taken 47 Years Ago

A southeast Kansas woman got a second chance at motherhood 47 years later this past weekend.

Mary Boyd of Coffeyville has been waiting to hug her daughter and finally got to meet her.

“They took her from me, cleaned her up and took her to the nursery. We weren't allowed to hold them or see them. I mean they just took her away,” Mary Boyd told KOAM, the CBS affiliate in Joplin, Missouri.

She said she was forced to put Jodi, her fifth child, up for adoption after an abusive husband divorced her and convinced state officials she was an unfit mother. She said she hasn’t seen any of her other children since.

“I guess my life just stopped, you know. She's the last one I thought would find me. I thought one of my boys would be the first ones but that wasn't the case and she did and I’m glad she did because I got my baby back,” Mary Boyd said.

Jodi grew up in Illinois and found out she was adopted when she was 12. From that moment on, she was determined to find her birth parents.

“I kept having people tell me that she is deceased, she’s no longer around and there was just something in my heart that said, 'No, you all are wrong, my mother is alive,'” said Jodi Sykes.

And Jodi was right. An "adoption angel" reached out to her on Facebook and helped her find Teresa McVey, a close friend of Mary’s who helped to orchestrate their reunion, giving Mary a second chance at motherhood.

“I don't want to let her go. I want her to go back home with me,” says Jodi.

And after so many years, Mary’s maternal instincts instantly kicked in. She's already demanded that Jodi stop smoking so that they can spend as much time together as possible.

Mary and Jodi are determined to find the rest of their family. They’re looking to find Rosemary Powell, Forrest Robert Powell Jr., Michael Casey Powell and James Preston Pope Powell.