For 23 years, she existed in the system as no one’s daughter. Then a casual video about a one-eyed stuffed rabbit went viral, and a stranger from another state sent a message that would unravel everything Ava thought she knew about being abandoned. What if she was never unwanted at all?
Ava turned 26 in March. At least, she thought she did.
The caseworker who filled out her intake form in 1999 had guessed March based on her height and teeth. Before that, someone else had written down September. Her first foster mom celebrated it in July because that’s when Ava came to her.
She’d cycled through three birthdays and three last names, depending on which county handled her file.