Written by  mashable.com – Camille Bautista From PR Caribbean

Never underestimate the power of social media.

One woman in search of her biological parents found her apparent birth mother and father after posting a picture of herself on Facebook. On Jan. 27, Jenessa Simons shared a photo of herself holding a handwritten sign with her birth information.

Two days later, her birth mother reached out to her.

Simons’ search began when she was 18, but she had to wait three years before submitting paperwork to the state. She decided to try her luck on Facebook while waiting, after seeing the success of posters who garnered 1 million likes for a puppy.

Her photo included what little information she knew: her birthday, hospital, parents’ dates of birth and contact information. They were 16 at the time, and they named her Whitney. The image spread quickly, with more than 14,000 likes and 160,763 shares at time of writing.

On Tuesday, Simons announced on Facebook that she found her birth mother and, later, contact information for her birth father. A high school friend of the two contacted Simons’ biological mother, who got in touch with the 21-year-old.

She was skeptical at first, reports an ABC affiliate, until the woman sent her baby pictures Simons’ adoptive mother had given her.

There are numerous pages on Facebook geared toward those searching for their birth parents, and Simons hopes others will use the social network to reconnect with loved ones. In her post on Wednesday, she thanked those who shared her photo and story:

“All of you are the reason that I can say I now know my birth family. Please, please continue to use this page to talk, to connect, and to build a community of birth parents and adoptees who want to come together, for whatever purpose … Thank you, thank you, thank you. Without you, I would still be searching.”