Contestant Gets Happy Surprise On Her Way To Miss Pennsylvania Crown
By Brad Segall
BETHLEHEM, Pa. (CBS) -- A Lehigh Valley native and Temple University graduate has a very compelling story to tell as she uses her crown as Miss Pennsylvania to raise awareness for adoption.
Khari Siegfried, 26, has been competing in pageants for ten years but never thought that road would lead her to her birth parents.
Given up for adoption by a birth mother who couldn't care for her, she was adopted after spending time in foster care.
Then, while shopping for her gown for the Miss Pennsylvania pageant, she learned that her birth mother had been searching for her for six years.
Khari says they connected, and then met.
"It just kind of seemed like all the puzzle pieces were coming together," she recalls. "So here I am, preaching about adoption, and then my birth mother finds me and they're coming to my pageant! The nerves were on high drive that day," she adds.
Siegfried found out that her mother later married her biological father and she has three siblings. She hopes to travel the entire state and serve as a national advocate for adoption, to show it can be a blessing.
View the KYW Newsradio adoption feature, "Wednesday's Child"
