Woman Reunites with 9 Long-Lost Sisters After 43 Years of Being Separated: 'I’m Home' (Exclusive)

Barbara Lane's book, ‘Broken Water,’ documents abuse and survival amid her search for her sisters after being placed in foster care as a child

In 1954, when she was about three years old, Barbara Lane and her five sisters — Kay, Bobby, Mickey, Vickey, and Annie — were abandoned in their apartment by their mother and sent to St. Dominic's Orphanage in St. Louis.

At the time, Barbara's two eldest sisters, Ruth and Ellen, were married and living somewhere else while another sister, Bernie, wasn't present when social workers showed up. Barbara later found out that her mother — who took Barbara’s other younger sister, Pam, with her when she left — bore another child named Cindy after her six daughters were placed in the orphanage.

As Barbara recalls today, her experience at the orphanage was decent because her sisters were with her, although she would later learn that those siblings experienced abuse in their lives.

The time the six Lane sisters spent together at the orphanage would be short-lived, however, as they were soon separated from each other to live with their respective foster families. It was one of the harrowing experiences that Barbara describes in her book Broken Water, which covers her separation and eventual reunion with her sisters 43 years later.

“I remember watching my sisters leave and that was my trauma,” Barbara tells PEOPLE of the separation. “I didn't knew where they were going, I just know they didn't come back.”

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After the orphanage, Barbara and Kay were placed together as foster children with a man, whom Barbara claims had ties to organized crime, and his wife. The couple later adopted the two children when they turned 16.

“The day we were placed in that home, I knew something wasn't right,” Barbara says.

In her book, Barbara alleged that she and Kay suffered physical and sexual abuse at the hands of their foster father.

Barbara also claims that they weren't allowed to leave home except to attend school and buy groceries and that they were even forbidden to speak about their other sisters. Things got so bad that by the age of 14, Barbara claims she dared her foster father to shoot her with a gun that he carried with him.

"That scared the bejesus out of him and he left me alone after that moment," she says.

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At 19, Barbara married her childhood sweetheart, Jim, and together they raised three children. The family later moved from St. Louis to Maryland, where Barbara went to college and graduated from the University of Maryland. Throughout her adult life, she sought therapy — which helped her heal — and later became a child advocate, educator and ministerial counselor.

“Sadly, the 11 of us — each one of us — were sexually abused in our childhood," she says, adding that unfortunately, what happened to them was not a unique experience. "Our hope is that we raise awareness about this and also show those who walked this path that you can heal from this."

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After the death of her foster mom in 1992, Barbara decided to search for her nine long-lost sisters.

“When I stood by her casket, something shifted in me [so] that I felt free of her oppression," she tells PEOPLE. "And I walked away from that casket feeling a sense of hope, and I thought, 'I'm going to find my sisters.'"

My Extraordinary Family is PEOPLE's new series that explores fascinating families in all their forms. If you have a sweet story the world needs to know, send the details to love@people.com. 

Before DNA websites, Barbara's search involved going through adoption registries, Catholic Charities, and even hiring a detective. However, all those efforts proved to be unsuccessful.

Yet, Barbara remained optimistic.

“The fact that I might not ever find them did hang in my mind," she says. "But that never lasted for long, because my desire to find him was so strong."

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As it turned out, Barbara's other sisters were also looking for her and Kay.

One of the eldest sisters, Ellen, had an old picture of Barbara and Kay as children with their foster parents that was published in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Based on the article, a friend of Ellen's son did some investigating, which turned up Kay's phone number.

Three days before Barbara finally made contact with her long-lost sisters by telephone in the summer of 1997, she recalls having a premonition their time apart was about to end.

“It was like somebody hit me over the head,” she says. "And in that instant, I knew they were going to find me.”

When that fateful day came, Barbara says she was reading on the beach when her husband called her in. "I said, ‘They found me, didn't they?’" she recalls. "He handed me two phone numbers of two of my sisters — Ellen and Bernie.” 

After establishing contact, Barabra flew to St. Louis where she and Kay met their other sisters for an emotional reunion. “What was going through my mind was disbelief,” she says. “I think I was in somewhat of a state of shock."

“When I saw them, I just felt like I was melting,” she continues. “I literally threw myself into their arms. And my sisters Bernie and Ellen were on the driveway waiting for us. I knew their smell. Their touch felt familiar. Their eyes were the same."

"I'm home," she remembers thinking to herself. "I'm home.”

In 2005, Barbara began working on what would become her book Broken Water, a process that took 15 years. Through her sisters’ recollections, she learned about their experiences as well as her biological parents.

“We were apart for 43 years, the majority of us,” she says of the sisterly group, who has gone on to welcome a total of 34 children. “We were together for a while before we started speaking just a little bit about our past histories. Then one of my sisters said, 'Barbie, would you write a book for us?'"

Although five of Barbara's sisters — Mickey, Vickey, Bernie, Annie and Ellen — have since died following the reunion in 1997, Barbara still keeps in touch with her remaining siblings.

“When we get together, we become like little kids,” she says. “It's just a beautiful, beautiful thing. I'm really lucky and blessed.”

If you or someone you know has been a victim of sexual abuse, text "STRENGTH" to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 to be connected to a certified crisis counselor.

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