Abandoned Chinese Twins Reunited in the U.S.

The other, who was dumped a week after her sister in the same place, was adopted by a family in Miami. Incredibly, they also named her Mia. The girls' mothers, Holly Funk and Diana Ramirez, later met via a website for parents of international adoptees.

After a flurry of emails comparing photographs and biographical details, DNA tests proved the families' suspicions: the girls are probably twins. And last week, at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, Mia Diamond Funk and Mia Hanying Ramirez met. The three-year-olds shyly surveyed each other, then each reached for the other's hand.

"I'm just awed," Funk said. "Grateful to God. To me, it's a divine thing. It's a miracle. In the sea of humanity, these kids found each other." "I was in shock," said Ms Ramirez of learning of the girls' kinship. "I was like, 'Okay, well, now this is for real'."

The internet and web groups revolving around international orphanages are increasingly being used to link adopted children with biological kin. The site that the Funks and Ramirezes used has a membership of 137 people, and 15 sets of twins and seven sets of siblings have been confirmed.

DNA tests have established an 85 per cent probability that the girls are at least half-sisters. Scientists did not have a biological parent to test for greater certainty, but given their ages and physical similarities, experts say it is likely they are fraternal twins. Douglas and Holly Funk, of Chicago, hope to bring their Mia to Miami in October.

Both sets of parents say they are determined to stay in touch and often let the twins talk to each other on the phone. They say their respective broods — the Funks' five biological children and a four-year-old brother adopted from Taiwan, and the Ramirezes' two sons, aged 13 and 10 — will be an extended family for the girls.

(Contributed by Sify)