For over 40 years, Carmen Larsen has been looking for the little girl from her pictures.
“She’s my little sister,” said the 58-year-old Nanaimo woman.
“Just always wondering how she is and if she’s okay.”
The two were born into an unstable Vancouver home and shared a father, but were separated from each other when their parents broke up.
Carmen was eight-years-old, Nina Marie, her baby sister just three, and neither could have known they would never see each other again.
“If I hear the name Nina I stare at that person,” said Larsen.
“And I look at her and I wonder is that her.”
“[It] means a lot to her,” said Larsen’s husband Les Cote.
“You know hopefully this will come to end sooner or later, I’m hoping.”
Over the years Larsen has learned that Nina ended up in foster care, and was later adopted in Vancouver. Nina was born May 28, 1967 making her 52 now and her last name is Dixon.
“Did she have a good life after after being adopted and is she safe,” Larsen wondered out loud.
Time went by and questioning of their father never brought her any closer. Eventually, he passed away. But Larsen’s longing continued, despite repeated refusals from government agencies to any information about her sister.
“Because of me being a sibling they won’t open up any records for me,” said Larsen.
So she named her first born Nina.
More decades past and her second daughter then named Larsen’s grand-daughter Nina.
Now she is hoping reaching out over CHEK News may finally bring her the little sister she has never stopped missing.
“It would mean everything,” said Larsen.
“Absolutely everything. It would make my life full circle. Full circle.”
Skye Ryan
