A woman who was forced to give up her daughter for adoption after being placed in a ‘strict home’ for mothers and babies has been reunited with her child on tonight’s Long Lost Family.
Charlotte, 66, from Blackpool, who appeared on the fifth episode of the ITV programme’s latest series this evening, explained that she had fallen pregnant at 16 years old.
She grew up in the 70s and admitted that while her father was ‘her idol’, she ‘clashed’ with her mother growing up. When she found out she was pregnant, the café worker panicked and ran away from home.
However, Charlotte was soon found by the authorities and ended up in a ‘strict’ home and school for teenage mothers and decided it would be safer to give her baby girl away for adoption.
But thanks to the Long Lost Family team, Charlotte’s daughter, now named Sarah, was discovered only 40 miles away, and the duo were reunited in emotional scenes. Their meeting came after Charlotte was given the all clear on her bowel cancer diagnosis.
Charlotte (pictured reuniting with her daughter), 66, from Blackpool, who appeared on the fifth episode of the ITV programme’s latest series this evening, explained that she had fallen pregnant at 16 years old
Speaking about the moment she found out she was pregnant, Charlotte said: ‘I remember sitting by the window of the cafe and thinking “What do I do now? I’m having a baby.”
‘So I ran away, the police started looking for me, I was too scared to go home and they brought me back and found out that I was pregnant.’
To ensure she didn’t run away again, Charlotte’s parents made her a ward of court – in which the High Court is appointed as a child’s supreme legal guardian to ensure their safety and protection.
The child also cannot be removed from England and Wales without the court’s permission.
Charlotte then gave birth to her baby girl and said: ‘When she was born, it was great, it was happiness. I didn’t know what to call her. I used to like a song on the radio and it’s called Tracy, so I thought we’ll call her that.’
Her mother then came to her with a proposition and said that a couple were willing to pay to adopt her daughter.
Charlotte said: ‘You want me to get paid for giving them my baby? I don’t think so. I told her to get out.’
As Charlotte was a ward of the court, she was then placed in a ‘strict’ home and school for teenage mothers.
When she found out she was pregnant, the café worker (pictured left, with her daughter) panicked and ran away from home
However, Charlotte was soon found by the authorities and ended up in a ‘strict’ home and school for teenage mothers and decided it would be safer to give her baby girl away for adoption
But thanks to the Long Lost Family team, Charlotte’s daughter, now named Sarah, was discovered only 40 miles away, and the duo were reunited in emotional scenes (pictured)
She described it as a ‘horrible’ experience, adding that the building had security locks on all the doors. She called the home a ‘prison’ and did not feel safe around the other girls and ended up having physical fights with members of staff.
‘[I just thought] I don’t belong in here and neither does Tracy. I went to the office and said I’d like to have her adopted please. That was… at night and that’s when I handed her over,’ she said.
Tracy was then temporarily put into foster care and on her final visit, Charlotte was given her only photo of her ‘little sugar dumpling’.
Later in life, Charlotte was prompted to look for her daughter after being diagnosed with bowel cancer.
She said: ‘They’ve managed to get it but it’s pretty scary. I’m starting to cherish now a bit more this time because this is a second chance for me.
‘I’d love to be able to find her and know she doesn’t hate me for what I did. But she was always with me, wherever I went.
‘She’s very precious, I’ve always looked and wondered what she looks like. She’s in my heart, she’ll never leave.’
Tracy, who is now called Sarah, said her mother could not have children and so adopted her and her brother, before then giving birth to two children of her own.
Their meeting came after Charlotte (pictured right) was given the all clear on her bowel cancer diagnosis. Pictured left, Sarah
Charlotte (pictured with her parents) grew up in the 70s and admitted that while her father was ‘her idol’, she ‘clashed’ with her mother growing up
Describing what her adoptive mother is like, Sarah said: ‘She knew exactly what to say or do… She’s been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. We take care of her.’
When the Long Lost Family team reached out to her ‘every emotion’ passed through her brain, including the fear of being ‘rejected’ by Charlotte.
When she was told that Charlotte had kept a photograph of her as a baby on her mantelpiece for all these years, she burst into tears.
Upon seeing a photograph of her birth mother, Sarah said: ‘She does actually look like me.
‘It must’ve been awful for her. I was young when I had my son, I was a single mum but I had all the support in the world, so to go what she was going through at such a young age, no.’
Charlotte sent a letter to her daughter which read: ‘Letting you go that day was the saddest I could ever be. My heart broke. There has never been a day gone by that I haven’t thought of you, wishing I could’ve been there to give you a cuddle.’
Sarah said Charlotte would never take her mother’s place but that ‘she’s already taken a different place in my heart.’
Sarah added: ‘Just looking at that picture I know there’s something between us, a friend, my mum.’
Much to her delight, the news was then revealed to Charlotte that not only had her daughter been found, but was keen to make contact.
Charlotte (pictured with co-host Davina McCall) described her first born as ‘so beautiful, lovely’ noting she still had ‘those cheeks from the pictures’
Sarah (pictured with co-host Nicky Campbell) told her mother that it had meant everything to her that Charlotte had never forgotten her and had kept her picture all those years
The mother broke down in tears when she found out Sarah wanted to meet, saying, ‘it’s my dream come true’.
When Charlotte was presented with a picture of her lost daughter, she recognised her straight away and said she could see the family resemblance.
‘She’s not really changed from her picture [the same] cheeky smile. This is a wonderful day,’ she said.
Meanwhile, the news that Sarah had been found, wasn’t the only thing Charlotte was relieved for as she was later awarded the all clear on her cancer diagnosis.
A blood test had revealed that ‘everything is normal’ and that she was free of cancer.
Prior to the first meeting between the mother and her long lost daughter, Charlotte was filled with nerves, saying there was a million things racing through her mind before laying eyes on Sarah.
‘When it comes down to the reality of meeting up, those are the moments [you question] whether is there going to be a bond?’
She wasn’t alone in her fears. Sarah, also racked with nerves, had to take a few deep breaths while she waited to meet her biological mother.
When the two finally met, they were both overcome by emotion and fell into each others arms crying.
Charlotte described her first born as ‘so beautiful, lovely’ noting she still had ‘those cheeks from the pictures.’
‘I feel like I’ve known you for years,’ the emotional mother said to her newly found daughter.
Sarah felt the same, saying: ‘I was worried about how I’d feel but there is definitely something there. I feel relieved there, it’s been a rollercoaster these past couple weeks.’
Her birth mother, who had never wanted to lose her child in the first place, said: ‘I always wanted to see you and get you back.
‘It’s like I’ve gone to heaven and come back again, I feel so much warmth between us that I [felt] like I was hugging that child again.’
During the emotional meeting between the long lost mother and daughter, Charlotte was relieved to learn that her daughter had had good adoptive parents and a positive childhood.
Sarah had brought along some other baby pictures to share with her mother, who couldn’t help but laugh at how little she’d changed since she was just a tot.
Sarah told her mother that it had meant everything to her that Charlotte had never forgotten her and had kept her picture all those years.
‘When I saw the photo it meant everything to know she’d been thinking about me everyday, just hanging onto me,’ she said.
The two remarked on how grateful they were to finally have been reunited.
‘Thank you for finding me,’ Sarah told her birth mother, who quipped back saying, ‘I’m not letting you go now!’