Gabby Hart, the baby abandoned at Hobby Airport in 1989, reconnects with officer who found her 34 years later

FOX 26’s Gabby Hart is sharing a piece of her own story in order to raise awareness.

Gabby is opening up about her experience with the foster care system, and how it all started at Hobby Airport in 1989.

She’s opening up about her journey through the foster care system, which started at Hobby Airport in 1989.

“I was walking around the garage, and I heard a baby crying; so, I followed it, and I found the baby laying in the back of the pick-up truck, and I thought, what is this going?” said Kathleen Biryla, a former HPD officer.

On May 27, 1989, Biryla discovered a newborn baby abandoned in the parking garage of Hobby Airport.

She’s pictured in a newspaper article holding that infant.

“She wouldn’t go to anybody but me, so they let me take her downtown,” Biryla recalls.

When Gabby Hart located Officer Biryla, she told her she worked for FOX 26 Houston and that she wanted to talk with her about the infant she found all those years ago; that is all the information Biryla knew before they met via Zoom.

“I always wondered what happened to her though, you know?” said Biryla .

A short time after being found the infant was identified as 3-month-old Gabriel Hart, who many may know as Gabby Hart, a FOX 26 News Reporter. Gabby disclosed to Biryla that she was in fact the infant she found 34 years ago via Zoom.

Biryla traveled from Buffalo, New York to Houston, just a few weeks later, to meet Gabby.

“I’m so happy that I got to have an ending to the story, you know, and you turned out wonderfully. I remember thinking back then how sad I was to leave you down at that juvenile place as a police officer, and you cried when I left, and I cried that night because I didn’t want to leave you there,” explained Biryla.

Two days before Gabby was abandoned her mother left her 3-year-old sister, Natalie Hart, in an airport bathroom in San Jose, California.

“I remember having a feeling that it was going to happen. I remember looking under the stall and saying Mommy don’t leave me, and then when I came out, she was gone,” said Natalie.

The story was national news and the media soon reported that the girls’ mother suffered from mental illness, she felt she was protecting them by leaving them.

Gabby & Natalie were returned to Cleveland, Ohio, where they lived with their biological family for a short time. However, taking care of the girls was overwhelming for the family. Gabby entered the foster care system at 3 years old, and Natalie was 7.

“It was kind of like, just be normal, pretend nothing is wrong, just keep living your life, and you can’t do that, as an adult I don’t think I would be able to do that,”  said Natalie.

Gabby and Natalie discussed their experiences via Zoom, Gabby explained that despite their mother having her issues, they were never mistreated by her or their biological family but that the mistreatment happened after they were placed into foster care and at the hands of foster parents. They experienced abuse in their first few foster homes, before being separated at 5 and 9 years old.

Gabby was placed in a total of 24 foster and group homes when she turned 18, she was out on her own.

 The statistics for previous foster children, especially those who age out, it’s shocking. Less than 3% will graduate from college, they’re more likely than their peers to become homeless, in jail, on drugs, or dead.

“On paper, it looked like we should be complete statistics, and we’re not,” Natalie said.

In the Zoom interview, Gabby asked her sister if the few good foster parents canceled all of the bad ones, “Yes. it made me, it made me realize people aren’t all the same,” Natalie answered.

There are so many children and teens in foster care for reasons out of their control who are in need of good foster parents.

This is a message from Gabby Hart:

“I share my story with you not to garner sympathy or pity, but to inspire. To inspire all of those amazing foster children by letting them know there is light at the end of the tunnel. And to the existing foster parents and those considering becoming one, you matter. Your time, your energy, and your love matter more than you know.”