shock story
Long Lost Family viewers left in tears at heartbreaking story of woman forced to abandon FOUR babies across 22 years
Two relatives who were reunited during the episode were both foundlings
VIEWERS of Long Lost Family admitted they were left breaking down in tears at one of the programme's most heartbreaking stories.
The episode followed the cases of two foundlings during the special Born Without Trace week.
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A foundling is a child whom is abandoned at birth with no obvious trace or connection to a set of birth parents.
The episode of the ITV show, fronted by Davina McCall and Nicky Campbell, featured a slew of twists and turns right from the outset.
It opened following the story of Thomas Yeo who revealed how he had been abandoned as a baby and had no idea about his birth mother and father.
He submitted hid DNA to a database in order to see if he could find any living relatives as a match.
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The show's genealogy expert Ariel Bruce then confessed they had found a full first cousin in Ireland.
In a shock twist of events, Thomas' cousin, Martina, was also a foundling who had been abandoned by St Joesph’s Church in Dublin
It meant she equally was searching for answers surrounding her family and was unable to help Thomas in his search.
Whilst Martina and Thomas did go on to meet, they both continued their searches separately in a bid for more answers.
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As the programme focused in on Martina Evenden, Ariel was able to discover a bit more about her family after extensive expert searching.
However, what she discovered was utterly heartbreaking and left many viewers with tears streaming down their face.
My mum abandoned me at a train station as a baby and it took me 50 years to find a relative. I was shocked to find out she is a foundling too
She told show host Davina how Martina's birth mother had been identified as a woman named Margaret, known as Peggy.
Peggy was actually a mother-of-four and Martina was the last child she had given birth too.
Shockingly, Peggy had been forced to give up all four of her babies.
The shame of being an unmarried woman across the 1940s, 50s and 60s in religious Ireland meant that she would have been shunned and Peggy was seen as a "social disgrace" according to Ariel.
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Peggy had given birth for the first time aged 19 and her parents had sent her to the notorious Sean Ross Abbey.
Sean Ross Abbey was a church which featured a mother and baby unit between the 1930s and 1970s.
Since the closure of the unit, a slew of shocking truths about the facility have come to light which saw many of the unmarried mothers and babies mistreated.
It is understood almost 1,100 'illegitimate children' died whilst at Sean Ross.
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Some died from malnutrition whilst another baby died from heart failure after chocking on porridge.
Thankfully for Peggy, her parents paid for her to leave Sean Ross and she returned back home with her baby in tow.
Her parents then chose to raise the baby and sent Peggy away.
Aged 25, Peggy went on to give birth for a second time at a mother and baby unit and had to give the child up for adoption.
10 years later, the same occurred once again before Peggy went on to have Martina aged 41.
Three newborns abandoned by same parents
BABIES are rarely abandoned in the UK but last week, it was revealed a newborn found inside a shopping bag has two siblings deserted in similar circumstances.
'Baby Elsa', named after the protagonist in Frozen, was found in sub-zero temperatures in Newham, east London, in January.
She was believed to be less than an hour old when she was discovered by a dog walker, wrapped in a towel inside a reusable shopping bag with her umbilical cord still attached.
The Metropolitan Police suspect Elsa was born after a 'concealed pregnancy' - where a woman does not tell health professionals she is expecting.
DNA tests have since revealed Elsa has two siblings - a brother and a sister, who were abandoned in 2017 and 2019 respectively, within miles of where she was found.
The other babies, Harry and Roman, were discovered wrapped in blankets. They have both been adopted.
The parents of the three children are yet to be identified
At East London Family Court last week, Judge Carol Atkinson ruled the biological link between 'Elsa' and the other two children could be reported.
It was deemed of "great public interest" due to babies rarely being abandoned in modern Britain.
The trio are among five cases of children being abandoned at birth within the last four years in England and Wales.
In 2020, a baby was discovered in Hackney, east London, and another was found in Birmingham in 2021. Both of their mothers were tracked down several months later.
Opting against going into a home, Peggy instead abandoned Martina at just days old.
Reacting with shock and sadness to the trauma-filled story, one fan said online: "Gosh Martina's story #longlostfamily."
Another added: "Bloody hell, these weren’t bits of kids leaving their babies. Aged 41 and 35. It’s enormously sad that even at those ages they felt they had no alternatives to abandonment. #Longlostfamily"
A third said: "Needed a cry tonight. Does it every time:
#LongLostFamily #BornWithoutATrace #Foundlings."
Someone else went on to write: "I just spend a full hour in tears it's happy and sad all at the same time. I'm just so relieved when they get answers #longlostfamily."
Before a fifth penned: "That poor woman. Surviving Sean Ross Abbey only to have to go through it all again, twice more. Horrific. The loving church - yeah, right."
READ MORE SUN STORIES
Long Lost Family Born Without Trace airs on ITV1 and ITVX on consecutive nights from June 10, at 9pm
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