Facebook Helps Local Man Find Birth Mother

SLIGO., Pa. (EYT) – A Sligo man’s years-long search for his birth mother has come to a happy ending.

Ben Fling, 25, and his fiancee, Brianna Giles, began looking for his mother, Antoinette Willis, a few years ago.

Fling hasn’t seen his birth mother in more than 20 years.

“I am really overjoyed and happy that I have a chance to see her and be her son again,” Fling said. “She said she never stopped looking for me, and she said still loves me.”

benny brianna fling's mom

(Pictured above: Ben and his brother, Joe, and their birth mother on Mother’s Day in 1995.)

Fling and Giles posted on Facebook that he was looking for his mother earlier this week.

On Friday afternoon, a friend of Giles messaged her that she knew who Fling’s mother was.

Not long afterward, they were talking on the phone and made plans to meet on Saturday.

The story began sometime between 1995 and 1996 when Fling’s mother apparently left him and his twin brother, Joe, in a home in the Sigel area when they were about three-years-old.

Willis, which was her maiden name, was battling drug and alcohol problems at that time. When the boys were discovered, Children and Youth Services became involved, and they were later adopted by the Fling family from New Bethlehem.

Fling said his birth mother still lives in the Sigel area.

According to Fling, his birth mother told him that there were plans for them to stay in touch, but his adoptive mother didn’t let it happen.

“I don’t know why she didn’t let us stay in touch,” Fling said. “Maybe she thought she would have been a bad influence, but even after years had passed and she knew my real mom wasn’t a bad person….It hurts.”

“I have mixed feelings about it. I could have been talking to her years ago,” Fling said. “My adoptive mother said she saw her in a dentist’s office in Punxsutawney a few years ago, and she had kids with her and seemed funny and outgoing. But, when I tried to find out more, she didn’t want to talk about it and changed the subject,” Fling said.

“I am still close with my adoptive parents, and we go to family functions, but I have wondered if she (was) trying to protect me.”

Ben’s brother, Joe, still lives with his adoptive parents due to a mental disability.

Giles and Fling had tried different search methods, but after no success, they recently opted to utilize social media.

Here is an excerpt of a Facebook post at Clarion County Kids Flea Market’s page www.facebook.com/groups/526614804201052/about/.

I am looking for my birth mother. My mother’s maiden name is Antoinette Willis. I last knew she married someone named Ray. Her birthday is October 25, 1957, and she just celebrated her 60th birthday.

This is the last picture I have with her and my brother. Please help me find her. Share everywhere, please!! Last known location is near Brookville, PA. Thank you. Looking for a Christmas miracle.


Fling and Giles had other reasons to believe Willis remained in the area.

“She had two other sons to another man named Lapinsky, and one of them has had criminal troubles,” Giles said. “When he lost his kids, she took custody of them, and that’s why we believed she still lived around here.”

Fling Family

Fling wants his birth mother to know her grandchildren (pictured above).

Fling and Giles have two children, a daughter who will turn one in December and another who will turn three in June of 2018.

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