60 Minutes Greatest Reunion Stories

Joel De Carteret's remarkable journey to find his family

As a five year old Joel De Carteret got hopelessly lost from his mother when he wandered away from the family home and into a bustling city market in the Philippines.

He searched and searched but couldn't find her, and was eventually taken to an orphanage.

Imagine this little boy's despair over the next 18 months as he contemplated a future with little hope.

But Joel was lucky. He was adopted by a caring and loving Australian family. He had gone on to lead a happy and successful life here, except something was always missing.

In 2017, 30 years after getting lost, Joel couldn't ignore the pain any longer. He had to find his birth mother. But in a country of one hundred million, where would he even start to look?

Roshani Priddis reunited with her mother 28 years after she was forced to give her up

Roshani Priddis was born into unimaginable poverty in Sri Lanka.

When she was six weeks old her mother made the heartbreaking decision to give her up in order to save her life.

Roshani came to Australia, to the Priddis family in Tamworth, NSW.

They gave her a new life and all of their love.

She grew up in a comfortable home and went to good schools.

Roshani even lived her dream of becoming a singer - on Australian Idol and The X Factor, when she shot to No. 1 on iTunes.

But here in the lucky country something had always been missing.

In 2016, 28 years after leaving Sri Lanka, Roshani embarked on a search to find her long lost mother.

Man and gorilla's unforgettable reunion after years apart

In 2012, 60 Minutes revealed a truly amazing display of love and trust - one that's as moving as it is unique.

It's an unforgettable reunion between a gorilla called Kwibi and the man who raised, then released him into the wild.

Zookeeper Damian Aspinall waited five years before returning to Africa to check up on his old mate.

He didn't expect Kwibi to remember him.

But he could not have been more wrong.

Saroo's incredible journey to find his long lost family

Few life stories involve such impossible odds, incredible love, and sheer determination as Saroo Brierley's.

Born into a poor family in central India, Saroo became lost when he was just five years old.

A terrifying train ride took him to the other side of the country.

And with no way home, Saroo ended up among the millions of desperate kids living on India's streets.

But the love of a Tasmanian couple offered him a new life.

He grew up and prospered as a young Australian, but all the while there was a yearning for his long lost family in India.

In this 60 Minutes Special from 2013, Saroo told the astonishing story of how he found them.

Baby left abandoned in a box begins search for her mother 30 years later

There are 80 million people in Vietnam and Jen Szetho is trying to find just one of them.

A woman she's never seen, a woman who may not even be alive; her mother.

You see, back in April 1975, Jen was caught up in the dying days of the Vietnam war.

Just 10 days old, abandoned, a baby in a cardboard box.

But she was saved, airlifted to Australia, and become the youngest orphan ever re-settled here.

In 2005, she returned to the land of her birth, convinced she will find her long lost mother.

It might seem like a hopeless quest but, as we found, sometimes miracles do happen.

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