Can Private Investigator Help Me Find My Dad? | Lost And Found | Only Human

[Music] tonight on lost and found this big empty piece in my heart and it has been my whole life raised by grandparents she's never known her dad i don't know if he'll want a relationship if he doesn't i'm okay with that has he fled the country you're a private investigator or something i just really want to meet him so that i can put a face to the name and he fathered a child that he never saw grow up i was 16 i was working in the sharing shirts now he's scared that it's too late to find his daughter but his other children are pushing him i'm the only girl and i always wanted a it's quite hard to know that we've got somebody out there that we don't know families that are lost and found they're always unpredictable [Music] i've never known my dad i grew up in greymouth and apparently he lived just up the road [Music] but he never came to see me and i don't even know what he looks like can you please help me find peter mackey the dad i've never seen or spoken to [Applause] after growing up without her dad there comes a time when he simply must be found ready that one's for you 32 year old melissa glanville lives in darfield outside of christchurch she met her husband luke when they were just 16. they now have two boys slade and jason do you reckon jase can get all the rings having a close family means a lot to mel because growing up her family was very different mel was born to a teenage west coaster three months later she was adopted by her mother's parents so little mel grew up with her grandparents who loved her very much and treated her as a daughter mel still sees her mum occasionally but she's always wanted to know her birth dad glad he's in there he's friendly come on through so why are you looking for your dad it's a big empty piece in my heart and it has been my whole life i've really i want to find him what do you know about your dad he was a minor lived on the west coast that he owned his own auto mechanics place apart from that i don't really know much [Applause] mel can remember being eight years old at a dairy in greymouth her grandfather pointed to a man and told her that was her dad [Music] he said do you know who that was and i was like no and he said well that's your father that's peter mackey all i remember is the back of him he never came around to see you trying to find you no not ever as far as i know tough question but why do you want to meet a man who's ignored you your whole life [Music] i i need closure i need to see his face that's pretty much the most important thing all the people in mel's life support her search for her birth father her natural mother the grandparents who adopted her and especially her own close family she's been with luke for 16 years now [Music] she's the love of my life gives me everything and you know like there's this guy out there that hasn't met this beautiful daughter he's got you know he's missing out on a lot i thought about him often i always wanted to meet him yeah i feel sad and empty just confused as to how he could have stayed away for as long as what he has [Music] hello i was trying to get hold of a peter mackey who used to work in greymouth the first thing i find out is that as mel suspects peter mackey is long gone from the west coast of new zealand anything else you can tell me but when i search australian records i find a peter mackey who owns a mechanics business then through the company's office i track him to a place called armadale outside of perth the records of this peter mackey's time in australia constantly moving suggests a restless character i've now got a phone number i need to find out if i have the right man speaking hello peter um my name's david lomas and i'm wondering by chance whether you're the peter mackey from greymouth why is that well a woman who i believe is your daughter is looking for you who are you you're a um private investigator of some man i've just been asked to help by your daughter who who is it for what's your name her name is mel melissa oh god okay look i've never known the little girl we're all young men and do stupid things when we're young don't we well i'm here in armadale i was wondering whether by chance i could catch up with you later today i've got a video message which mel would like me to show you [Music] peter mackey agrees to meet me at an armadale pub but given his unenthusiastic response on the phone i'm unsure if he'll show up 32 year old darfield mum melissa glenville has never met her father i'm in west australia hoping i've found him [Music] you peter peter yes hi i'm david how you going david got your beer i hope you like one attention match so as i said to you a woman i believe is your daughter mel she's looking for you interesting so what happened you were 18 and did you know about mel no i knew i knew obviously yes but i didn't meet her i've never seen her and apart from playing on the curb that's the last time i've seen her and over the years did you ever wonder what that little girl of yours looked like what happened to it i wondered my cousin said about it many years but some i've never heard anything never heard of a mother again or anything else well now she's looking for you i figured this would happen down the track a fair way [Music] well she's done a video message which she's asked me to show you would you like to see it yes okay have you pushed that little button there hi peter my name is mel and i'm your daughter i really want to meet you i've known about you my whole life but i know nothing about you i don't know what you look like or what you sound like you've got two beautiful grandchildren that i want you to meet and i have a wonderful husband that wants to meet you as well so please please agree to meeting me there's a little tear in your eye what do you reckon time to talk about it isn't it so if i was to bring her over here to amberdale if she believes it well when everyone else does well that's that's fine yeah i could get her over here in a couple of weeks oh maybe yes peter mackey has led an itinerant life since he arrived in australia almost 30 years ago he moved here when his kiwi wife ran off with another man i come here to start a new life it's been a hard road real hard i come here with no money or nothing so nothing he has a son from that marriage and a granddaughter peter now lives alone back in canterbury mel and luke know i've been searching for her father but they don't know yet where i've been [Music] so if we could find your dad what are you hoping for acknowledgement i don't know if he'll want a relationship if he doesn't i'm okay with that i just really want to meet him so that i can put a face to the name well i'd just like you if you could to have a just have a listen to this just push the button there so a lady who believes she might be your daughter her name is melissa oh okay okay i know i know who you mean yes look i've never known the little girl i've seen her on the footpath at her mother and father's house there and what would you be happy to catch up with sir yeah no cool it sounds cool cool so he does want to meet me then who would have wanted you [Music] cool that's made my day mum and dad are going to be really happy too yeah so would you like to go and meet him yes definitely so he lives a long way away and perf would you be happy to go there wow [Laughter] as you can see it means a lot to like this [Music] one week later mel and luke arrive in perth and travel to armadale this is the first time they have ever been out for new zealand can read it up and down yeah the chicken here do it peter is waiting to see the daughter he only saw a glimpse of as a child now you've been thinking about this for a long time have you got a picture in your head of what sort of person he is well i'm hoping that he's something like me because he'll be easy going yeah and um have a good sense of humour tries to forward um you must have thought about what your dad looks like it's the craziest thing i i can't picture him at all because everybody says she looks like your mum but we don't yeah i want to see if i look like my dad well if you walk down here yeah at the top of a car park was a white van yeah i think you work out who your dad is [Music] you want to go out too if i'm allowed if she wants me there good yeah all right off you go i hope he doesn't look like you i don't want two of yours i hope he does i need to be [Music] when i started walking i got all shaky very very scared here we go ah i'm gonna have to open the cave thanks oh she was freaking i could feel her shaking i couldn't imagine what you're thinking you're gonna have to go there i didn't know what i was gonna say it was gonna be someone that i like or hi hey [Music] wow [Music] [Applause] [Music] great to meet you what is it it is it is it's a special thing awesome [Music] i knew exactly who he was as soon as i saw him because he looks like me i can't stop looking at you oh she's my girl that's for sure beautiful girl it's good to meet her that's the thing you ride man got me bite what are you right man i've got to stop me harley i've got to try yes mate good stuff all the thoughts that i'd had just were right it's a very amazing feeling we're discussing all this stuff today when i gave him a hug it felt right it felt comfortable it was meant to be and you are a mechanic [Laughter] legendary finally mel has been able to get the answers to all her questions had a really good day with him yesterday stayed there till like 10 o'clock at night just talking and talking and talking has like the same taste in music as me into all the same things as me that's cool there's so much light luke it just shows that um girls do pick men like their fathers i'm real glad you've got a triumph i can't believe i have a bikey husband and a bikey dad peter is looking forward to seeing more of his long-lost daughter i hope i do spend more time with him and hopefully and they're welcome to come back anytime i feel different now i definitely know who i am now um yeah all questions answered hi my name is tahai tate i've just joined this program to look for my daughter wikitoria it's been 20 years and i'm wanting to find out where she is my name is shiri ted and i'm looking for my sister wikitoria i've been looking for her for a very long time and i really want to find her girl i'm thai tea junior i'm looking for my sister wikitoria i've learned about you all my life i've only got the courage now to come look for you she has nieces and nephews now and it'll make a family [Music] voice [Music] is looking for his first child a daughter who was named wikitoria tahi is a 64 year old maori cultural liaison officer and wikitoria was conceived when he was a teenager i was 16 i was working in the sharing sheds over in brisbane a place called tener that was kind of hard work depressing and that and and her mother was working in the shades as well we were teenagers when we were going together and you know when you're young you're full of it and so yeah we we had a good relationship um pretty fiery at times but good for that age school but the strength of that relationship was tested when tahai discovered that wikitoria's mum was pregnant i didn't realize the depth of that with a woman being pregnant what they go through didn't know too much about anything i also had pressure from my extended family that i shouldn't marry her or hook up with her so she decided to go back to whakatani [Music] [Applause] so looking back i mean how do you feel about the decisions you made then because i never had anything to do with her it doesn't mean to say that i wouldn't love her just like my other children and i've only just thought about it all the time [Applause] seven years after wikitoria was born tahai was visiting family in whakatani the same town that her mother had moved to [Music] he saw his young daughter playing in the street tahai was later given a photo of wikitoria but has not seen her since that time in whakatani i was a bit shy to go over because i didn't know whether she knew about me or not tahai went on to marry and had three other children tahai junior niwa and sherry but for years wikitoria has been the missing link in his family it's been difficult now i've got grown children it has been a sort of a vacuum of void knowing that she's out there [Music] tahi lives at rotorua's ohimetue village home to the famous and beautiful te papayuru marai and saint faith's church he says wikitoria has a proud heritage she's descended from very astute very loving warrior woman that are revered in our history that one yeah that's dead i reckon he's only just cracking 20 or something he looks younger he's all dead they look pretty surprised back in the day yeah sherry and tahi junior two of taihei's three other children are determined to help their dad find their missing sister i was about nine years old and i found a photo of her and our family photo albums i didn't know who she was obviously yeah i asked my dad and he told me that it was his daughter and since then i've just been fascinated because i'm the only girl i have two brothers and i always wanted a sister in tahoe because i've always grown up i'm really tight with our family and stuff it's um it's it's quite hard to know that we've got somebody out there part of our family that we don't know what would it mean for your dad if i can find wikitoria i think it would mean the world to him she's there and she's okay [Music] like to me my dad he's all about whakapapa and you know making connections you know connecting people together so i know that for him to connect with her would be huge it'd be different having a female might have some arguments i'm the boss really no one knows more than tahai that wikitoria may feel that the time for reconnecting with him and her brothers and sister has long passed that it may just be too late we wouldn't feel good but i would probably have to accept that she may be a grandmother herself now and then i've missed out on my grandchildren but yeah if you find her in there and she wants to talk to me or her brothers and sisters she'll be she'll feel safe and welcome by her for her family handler no problem about that [Music] amongst all this complex web of family history murray doom and the impending search for wikitoria there is something that stands out it's the name tahai why is that name familiar i have a suspicion i've heard it before i'm searching for the daughter of rotoru komatua tahai tait the name tahai suddenly triggers a memory looking back through search records incredibly there is an applicant on file who is searching for someone called tahai my name is ricky hassan and i'm looking for my birth father tahai tate it's an amazing coincidence checking dates and birth records reveals that this ricky hassan is actually the wikitoria that taha has been searching for but her file also reveals there's been a recent email [Music] it seems odd that ricky has suddenly withdrawn her application i need to find out why yeah oh hello is that ricky ricky it's uh david lomas here oh hi dave we took a few months back yes we did talk a while ago but um i see that you've pulled out from trying to find your dad yeah i did i did i didn't really want to go through with it anymore well look i'm coming down to nelson in the next week or so i was wondering if i could catch up with you if ricky really doesn't want to meet tahai there's no way he's going to get to meet her i've told ricky i'll be waiting for her nelson if she wants to talk further but so far it seems like she's not going to show up she clearly has no idea that a loving family is actually looking for her [Music] hello fortunately ricky has decided to meet me what would you like to drink the difficulty now is that if she doesn't want to meet her birth father anymore then tahai and his family's search will be fruitless right so you were looking for your dad i wasn't but i thought yeah i might give it a go yeah and then i pulled out of it i was scared actually that i was going to be rejected i guess it probably comes from you know when i was left as a baby by my biological mother so you weren't raised with your mother virtually at all we were both put into a family foster home in rojawa you and your mum yep because she was 19 at the time i think i was 18 months or something and um she left me there so i guess yeah i i guess from a very little child no one likes rejection do they some some people make stronger some people makes a little bit weaker ricky tells me that after her birth mother left her in the foster home she was made a ward of the state and then taken on by foster parents ricky still occasionally saw her mum and her mum's other children as she grew up but these were compulsory visits enforced by social welfare was that couple who adopted you maori or no they were white yeah and they had seven of their own kids biologically before they took me on and and your upbringing has it's not been maori at all no my biological mother's side are right into the maori culture and they rejected me because i was too white it was they all said to me are you too white even dress white you talk quiet you know like that was really hard because it's like well it's not my fault i was brought up with a white family it's really not my fault i've never learnt it but you look at me and i look like a maori and i look like i should know because i'm 45 years old do you know anything about your dad no no not a thing not anything and if he was a person embedded in maori culture and things like that love it can i show you something oh my god yeah [Music] i spoke to this man the other day yeah and if you were just to push that button down there have a watch of this [Music] uh hi i was your dad no i've spent a long time looking for you no way i really want to meet you and say to the rest of your brothers and sisters so uh in the background you'll see on what i you belong to this place we'd like you to also get your extended whanau from here so if you really want to come and greet us we'll welcome you back [Music] is he my father yes it is that's amazing there's a very strange thing in this one and [Music] they they came to us to try and find you your dad calls you a wikitoria you have two brothers one sister and now the ones who have also been really really involved in trying to find you you have to tell how wise i am [Music] like i want them to know [Music] because i want them to know that i'm not like him [Music] why are you worried about that i don't want them to think of me as white i just want them to think of me as theirs that's all [Music] ricky's married to a merchant seaman who's currently working out of dubai they have six children aged from five to twenty three good boy she has a background in hairdressing and is now an artist working with glass [Music] ricky has lived in the nelson area ever since relocating with her pakia foster family when she was five it was great it was hard working i got to taught you know good morals good work ethic i was loved i was fed i was clothed and all my foster siblings they were just my brothers and sisters i was part of their family but i'd never i've never ever indulged in my heritage i've been too scared to for fear of rejection ricky's foster mum passed away five years ago bringing up new feelings of loss missing my mum kind of spurred me to i want something like blood i think i just want to belong i feel like i want to belong to a family that's really mine it's unusual news that i bring to tahai tate and his daughter sherry in rotorua they have no idea that father and daughter have been looking for each other for tahai there's the anxiety that he's left his search too late that he's missed the opportunity to reconnect with his daughter whom he last saw from a distance when she was only seven years old cool well i've been doing some searching and i've got something to show you you've been looking for your daughter and you for your sister for some time now yeah well interestingly someone's been looking for you [Music] so if you just push that button now [Music] i'm helping 64 year old tahai tate to find the daughter he hasn't seen for almost 40 years in a bizarre twist she at the same time is looking for him so if you just push that button there [Music] hi tahi my name's ricky and i'm your daughter oh man i don't know if you know about me but i've known your name for for quite a while now and would love to meet you i have six kids one born and nelson i've lived in nelson for the last 40 years there's always been a part of us missing we'd all love to meet you and we'd love to you to meet us too cool yeah yeah so she was looking forward with that's so cool oh she's got six cuts [Music] that's your daughter what do you think of her beautiful she looks like us she's beautiful i've got to tell you she's she's worried about one thing um she was adopted and raised in a very pakiha family and she's a little bit worried that she might be too white for you guys right okay and hasn't really been involved too much in our murray side okay that's okay we'll teach her if she wants to learn well i will [Music] no that's no problem with us i was a little bit frightened that she may not want to meet us been so long um and now i've realized i've got six grandchildren from who just makes it so much better [Music] a week later ricky flies from nelson to rotorua all she knows is that she is to be formally welcomed onto a mirai to meet tahai her birth father as this is likely to be a daunting prospect for this cautious white maori i've arranged for ricky to meet her brothers and sister first so you're here in rotorua and you're going to go and meet your father's family today and how do you feel about that more nervous than excited because i don't like the unknown it's scary what's the most terrifying thing about today i think i've had a whole lifetime full of rejection so i don't really know any any other way you have a brother and sister's on your mum's side why is this different it's different now because these people actually want to meet me i'm not being forced to go and visit because the social welfare told me i had to [Music] 27 year old sherry has been instrumental in encouraging her dad to find his long-lost daughter and she's waiting with her older brothers tahai junior and niwa so how does it feel to have a new member of the family arriving i don't know i've never felt this feeling before so and that's all new to me sort of wonder what she looks like and you know what she's been doing for her life and it's different i'm known again so there's going to be another one oh i'm just excited nervous so if you were to look over your left shoulder then and just down there you see three people waiting for you yep that's your two brothers tahi aniwa and your sister sherry would you like to go and say hello to him i'd love to okay off you go good luck [Music] i was nervous walking down there i wasn't really sure what what to think actually so finally finally i'm coming home this is [Music] [Music] [Music] beautiful the hugs just holding them was just beautiful because i know that they want me i don't know what this feeling's called yeah it was weird yeah there's got to be a but weird oh not weird are you oh wow hi i can't describe it man all i know is i'm happy you know you know this is what i wanted all of my life we were already you know what you might know about i thought you didn't even i didn't i had no clue no clue we were looking up the wrong name no wonder we could all find you to have someone to belong to is really all i've wanted do you belong here thank you for ricky meeting her new family has only just begun tomorrow she will face her first formal mirai welcome and there she will meet her father tahi i started out helping rotorua komato at tahai tait to find his missing daughter only to find in a bizarre coincidence that his daughter was also looking for him now after meeting her new brothers and sister ricky and her dad tahai will finally meet each other extended family are gathering [Music] a big welcome was planned word is already out but ricky is in town are you excited meanwhile for ricky the tension is building as she comes closer to her first mirai welcome and to meeting her birth father so this is where dad and then grew up it's been a revelation meeting her younger sister sherry who's taken on the task of introducing ricky to her family's heritage so that's aha oh wow that's the manga for this area oh that's my mountain yeah oh she's amazing it's just so exciting to me i hope i can fit it all in it's going to be awesome [Music] but now the moment has come that tahi and ricky have both yearned for and feared for so many years ricky afraid that she would never be able to embrace her maori culture that her father would not want to know her and tahai fearful that he'd left it all too late the girl born to maori parents but raised by a pacquiao family is now faced with the full force of her birthright her culture and her family [Applause] i found the hakka really emotionally spiritually oh it was just amazing made me cry of course it just just felt right where's my dad [Music] it was quite an emotional time for me i can't explain in words how i felt really [Music] [Music] it's the first time that ricky knowingly has been in the presence of her father and it's a bold statement of tahai's pride that he's assembled nearly 80 family members to share the meeting [Music] oh [Music] [Music] this is amazing i just wanted to hold him and talk to him all day but i didn't want to overwhelm him with yeah my love for him i was one of many waiting for her and as a dad i'm so pleased that she came [Music] here has always been with us that's her spirit because we knew of her so she was always in our thoughts now she's just arrived physically and we can see her so i i feel uh really happy [Music] ah she's cool she fit in straight away for the whanau and she's in now so she can't go anywhere else so the former foster child who grew up in the south island far away from her maori heritage now has more family and culture than she ever dreamed of and her dad the teenager who missed out on his daughter growing up can finally get to know her i explained to that i was frightened of being rejected by her rather than anything and i was just pleased that she came along my brothers are so excited and we're just all happy yeah ricky is in constant contact with her new family and can't wait to bring her own children to rotorua and to what is now her place to stand i belong i belong to my people and it's a new beginning and i feel loved really really unconditionally loved which feels really good and i feel proud to be part of this whanau it's so exciting [Music] next week on lost and found no i don't have any idea why i was given away simona was rescued from a shocking romanian orphanage because i was angry for many many years now she wants to find a woman who abandoned her do you have any records here supporting local content so you can see more of new zealand on air

Channel: Only Human

Views: 126,370

Keywords: Only Human, emotional rollercoaster, family history, family love, family mysteries, family relationships, family tracking, fatherhood journey, forgotten pasts uncovered, genealogy quest, heartwarming content, human connection, human experiences showcase, missing parent, parental connection, personal achievements, personal heritage, real people real stories, real-life stories, searching for relatives, uncovering truth

Id: xtWXoVBUc2M

Length: 44min 31sec (2671 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 18 2022