It's an eternal love between a mother and daughter.

“I fell in love immediately,” mother Mary Reese said. “Kuo was 8 months old, and somehow, I’m going to start crying. Sometimes somehow you recognize a soul.”

Mary had desired to be a mother since she was young and adoption seemed to be the answer to her biggest wish. 

“I was in my mid-30s and I wanted to be a mama,” Mary said. “So I found out about this lawyer. I wrote to him and he said he could find me a baby. And I went to Taiwan. I didn't want to get duped somewhere. And I met Julie Chu, who worked for a lawyer. And, you know, my whole thought is, 'is this all legal and everything?'”

But little did Mary know of Chu’s illegal business practices. 

“I found out that the lady I adopted her from had been arrested, and for a month I couldn't find her,” Mary said.

Chu and several others were arrested. She is currently serving a life sentence for her crimes. Because documents were forged, many of the children have no idea who their biological families are, including Mary’s adopted baby, Kuo. 

“Taiwanese police tried to search for my birth family but were unable to find them,” adoptee Kuo Reese said. “ And I guess no one came forward. So eventually after a two-year struggle, she finally got me into the U.S.”

Mary fought for Kuo to come to the States after Chu’s arrest, and after a two-year search, with the help of state officials and celebrities, she finally received her child. 

Now in her early 40s, Kuo is determined to find her birth family. Hoping to reconnect with not only her biological mother but experience a piece of her Asian identity she had always felt was missing. 

“I got teased so much when I was little that at times it's like you're almost ashamed,” Kuo said. “And I didn't have any family that I could go back and look at and be like, 'Oh, I got, you know, my eyes from my mother and my nose for my dad.' It’s hard to get made fun of for these things and you don’t see it normalized in your everyday family.”

Mary and Kuo are preparing to visit Taiwan in hopes of finding her birth family. A Taiwanese student filmmaker will help, documenting their journey along the way.

“I'm just trying to do my best mostly translating or like getting her connected to the people who are more professional in search of a birth family and like DNA,” filmmaker Hsi Cheng said. “Besides from doing Kuo’s story and the case it might also help with people who went through adoption.”

Mary and Kuo hope their journey back to Taiwan will not only fill in the missing answers but allow Kuo to experience the life in Taiwan she possibly could have had. 

“The culture may be different, but the love is never different,” Mary said. “There may be a lady in Taiwan who's been heartbroken for the last 40 years because she was unable to take care of her baby and wants to know if she grew up fine. Whether it turns out a fairy tale comes true or she can't find it, I hope that that hole that she's had all her life is filled.”

Kuo and Mary Reese plan on returning to Taiwan later this summer with the help of Hsi Cheng. Kuo has started a fundraiser to contribute to her travel expenses back to her birthplace in hopes of finding her biological family.