Fidelina Chavajay

Fide fell into her work as a “searcher” in 2006 when an adoptive family she met asked her to help find their child’s birth mother.  Fide had been working in an orphanage as a tutor for the few older children there -- most were babies waiting for adoption to the U.S. and other developed countries.  Often birth mother’s would go missing during the months-long legal adoption process and Fide would be asked to use her connections in the villages to find them and bring them to the required appointments.

To date, in her independent work, Fide has connected over 400 adoptive and birth families.  

Fide lives in Antigua with her three young sons.

Velvet Beard

Velvet met Fide in 2007 during a 4-year stint living in Antigua with her young daughter.  Soon after, Velvet began working with Fide as her English translator to help her launch her birth mother search service.  She has had the privilege of witnessing hundreds of families connect both via successful searches and in-person meetings.
Velvet and her daughter now live back in the U.S. where she continues to support the work of Nuevas Familias and writes the blog on this site.