diff --git a/app/finders/fork_targets_finder.rb b/app/finders/fork_targets_finder.rb
index a96acd5838e662012697400c49a0d3e414b0c774..4c40c0d7b280ca4f6bb1c45f4d4e723be8f349c3 100644
--- a/app/finders/fork_targets_finder.rb
+++ b/app/finders/fork_targets_finder.rb
@@ -19,7 +19,17 @@ def execute(options = {})
   def by_search(items, options)
     return items if options[:search].blank?
 
-    items.search(options[:search])
+    if Feature.enabled?(:fork_targets_finder_with_parents, user)
+      # Ideally, we should use `items.search(options[:search], include_parents: true)` option
+      # But the resulted query has a terrible performance. See issue: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/437731.
+      #
+      # As a workaround, we can fetch the group's name from the path and search by it.
+      search = options[:search].to_s.split('/').last
+
+      items.search(search)
+    else
+      items.search(options[:search])
+    end
   end
 
   def fork_targets(options)
diff --git a/config/feature_flags/gitlab_com_derisk/fork_targets_finder_with_parents.yml b/config/feature_flags/gitlab_com_derisk/fork_targets_finder_with_parents.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..a3dca057dbc2f4b663912171c30cbd7a5d059e37
--- /dev/null
+++ b/config/feature_flags/gitlab_com_derisk/fork_targets_finder_with_parents.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+---
+name: fork_targets_finder_with_parents
+feature_issue_url: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/378243
+introduced_by_url: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/merge_requests/145230
+rollout_issue_url: https://gitlab.com/gitlab-org/gitlab/-/issues/442392
+milestone: '16.11'
+group: group::source code
+type: gitlab_com_derisk
+default_enabled: false
diff --git a/spec/finders/fork_targets_finder_spec.rb b/spec/finders/fork_targets_finder_spec.rb
index 746c48a8fabe376f95c4998e2970b1a97e90b107..541ace7e8c81044a8f81e120d98d2963258250bd 100644
--- a/spec/finders/fork_targets_finder_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/finders/fork_targets_finder_spec.rb
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 
 require 'spec_helper'
 
-RSpec.describe ForkTargetsFinder do
+RSpec.describe ForkTargetsFinder, feature_category: :source_code_management do
   subject(:finder) { described_class.new(project, user) }
 
   let_it_be(:project) { create(:project, namespace: create(:group)) }
@@ -75,6 +75,24 @@
       it 'filters the targets by the param' do
         expect(finder.execute(search: maintained_group.path)).to eq([maintained_group])
       end
+
+      context 'when searching by a full path' do
+        let_it_be(:subgroup) { create(:group, :nested, parent: maintained_group) }
+
+        it 'returns a group for an exact match' do
+          expect(finder.execute(search: subgroup.full_path)).to eq([subgroup])
+        end
+
+        context 'when feature flag "fork_targets_finder_with_parents" is disabled' do
+          before do
+            stub_feature_flags(fork_targets_finder_with_parents: false)
+          end
+
+          it 'does not return a group' do
+            expect(finder.execute(search: subgroup.full_path)).to eq([])
+          end
+        end
+      end
     end
   end
 end