

Episode 3
Season 10 Episode 3 | 46m 6sVideo has Closed Captions
A woman’s search for her birth mother and a father’s quest to find his lost son.
Two stories that take us across the globe: a woman's search for her birth mother in Sri Lanka and a quest on behalf of a father, longing to find his lost son.
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback

Episode 3
Season 10 Episode 3 | 46m 6sVideo has Closed Captions
Two stories that take us across the globe: a woman's search for her birth mother in Sri Lanka and a quest on behalf of a father, longing to find his lost son.
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
How to Watch Long Lost Family
Long Lost Family is available to stream on pbs.org and the free PBS App, available on iPhone, Apple TV, Android TV, Android smartphones, Amazon Fire TV, Amazon Fire Tablet, Roku, Samsung Smart TV, and Vizio.
Providing Support for PBS.org
Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorship[man] Can you find my son?
It would mean the world.
[woman] The main thing I would love him to know is, he was wanted.
[Davina] In the last year, over 4,000 people from across the UK have contacted the "Long Lost Family" team... Do you know what her full name would be?
...asking us to find their missing family.
He was a beautiful little baby.
He's lost and we want him back.
I just want to say sorry.
A girl can make one mistake... and I was her mistake.
[Nicky] Using trained intermediaries, DNA experts and investigators all over the world...
Please check this name.
-...we find people... -Donna.
-Hello.
-...nobody else could trace.
They loved you, and they still love you.
We uncover incredible family secrets.
Why would they be faked?
-This was her dying wish.
-Really?
So she wanted it?
[Davina] And answer questions that have haunted entire lives.
-Ta-da!
-[boy laughs] We all find each other in the end, pal.
-I can see myself in you as well.
-I know.
-Louise has been found.
-[gasps] -They call her Carol!
-[woman] You're joking!
[Davina] This week, we follow a woman across the globe as her search unfolds for her birth mother.
[woman] To give me away after looking after me for three months, that's hard.
That is so hard.
And we take on the quest of a father, desperate to find his lost son.
He was a lovely baby... you know, he was our baby.
He was our baby she stole.
[dramatic music playing] Our first search spans over 5,000 miles, a woman desperate to find her birth mother who she was separated from when she was just 2½ months old.
[contemplative music playing] Look at the snow!
[woman] My birth mother gave me away.
"Where they can tell us all about..." How can you give up a child, because when holding Ivani and when she was 2½ months, I'm like, how do you do it?
I can't imagine what she would have gone through.
I just wanna know, does she think of me?
'Cause Ivani's forever in my mind.
Yay!
Do you like it?
Thirty-one-year-old Yasika Fernando lives with her husband Tillek and their two-year-old daughter Ivani.
[Yasika] I've grown up in London all my life, but... even though London is my home, Sri Lanka's also my second home.
Yasika's adoptive parents, Donald and Yasantha, are Sri Lankan.
But the couple moved to Britain in the early 1980s.
My parents did tell me I was born in Sri Lanka... but I never saw pictures of, you know, my mother pregnant... of me newborn.
-Hi.
-It wasn't until Yasika was 18 that she discovered the truth about her birth.
[Yasika] My parents sat me down in their bedroom.
They said basically, "You're... you're adopted.
We got you when you were 2½ months."
It was a shock.
I was sad to know that I'm not theirs, like in that way.
Yasika's parents adopted her from a convent in the capital, Colombo.
But since they told her, the family have rarely spoken about it.
This is the first picture we have.
A kind of very, really nice feeling getting a baby in my arms.
Yeah.
[Yasika's father] You know, the baby is ours.
You know, you have that feeling, you know.
-Not temporary.
Yes.
-Yours forever.
-Really happy.
-Aw.
So obviously when you told me, there's so many questions.
You know, who my birth mother was.
[mother] They didn't give any information about the mother.
For them it's confidential.
Mm.
So you never saw her at all?
[mother] No, we didn't see her, but we think it's your mum.
She was crying in the back somewhere close to where we were.
-Aww.
-Yeah, so...
It would have been really hard for her.
Ever since finding out about her adoption, Yasika has been haunted by thoughts of her mother.
[Yasika] All I know is her name... which is written here, which is Niramana, and that she was 31 years old when she had me.
[Yasika] Ivani, let's brush your teeth, please.
[Yasika] When I first had Ivani, I have never felt a love so strong in my entire life for the love I have for her.
That bond is just... you would do anything for that child.
So what happened to my birth mother?
I wanna know... "Why did you give me up?"
Why?
[Nicky] When Yasika was born in Sri Lanka in the 1980s, adoption numbers were high.
Civil war, extreme poverty and cultural attitudes left many mothers feeling unable to keep their children.
Charities and religious institutions helped Western couples adopt Sri Lankan babies.
So Yasika's case could be one of thousands of foreign adoptions that took place in Colombo at that time.
This was going to be very difficult.
With no experience of searching in Sri Lanka, we decided the only way of getting anywhere fast was to enlist the help of an expert based over there.
His name is Siri Silva, and he's worked for over 25 years reuniting birth mothers with their children.
We wanted to find out whether he's happy to take on Yasika's search.
-Hi, is that Siri?
-Yes, it's Siri speaking.
Oh, hi, Siri, it's Nicky Campbell from Long Lost Family.
-Hi, Nicky.
-We have a woman called Yasika, and she's looking for her birth mother.
Yeah.
But, er, she has all the documents?
Well, we do have Yasika's adoption paperwork.
-But papers can be a fake sometimes, you know?
-Why would they be faked?
According to Sri Lankan culture, some mothers who give up their children have to hide the things and so secretly they're giving a baby away.
-Okay.
-And they don't want to inform what's happening, you know.
-Right, okay.
-So it can be a fake paper.
Given all that, do you think you'll be able to take on the search?
Well, er, I can do it but the thing is, she has to come to Sri Lanka.
She has to be there.
You know, that's the law in the country.
Well, that's great.
Really appreciate it, Siri.
-Thank you.
-Okay.
You're welcome.
-All the best.
Bye-bye.
-Bye, bye.
[phone clatters] This is a first for us.
It seems we are unable to carry out the search unless Yasika goes to Sri Lanka herself.
We contacted Yasika to tell her the news, and she's decided to make the 5½ thousand mile journey to look for her mother.
Of course there are no guarantees that Yasika's going to find her birth mother on her trip to Sri Lanka.
And travelling with so many unknowns isn't gonna be easy.
So I'm meeting her to find out how she's feeling about her trip.
-Hi, Yasika.
-Come in.
[Davina] Thank you.
Lovely to meet you.
[Yasika] Oh...
Thanks so much for seeing me.
Um, so you're going to Sri Lanka?
-I am, yeah.
-How you feeling about that?
So nervous.
And excited at the same time.
-Don't know what to expect.
-It's really new for us.
-Yes.
-Um, and quite weird for me to be sat here and not to be able to give you information.
Normally I'm coming armed with facts for you.
-Yeah.
-But what do you know about her?
Just her name, and she was 31, the same age as me now, and she had to go through that, and it's quite, quite heart-breaking to think.
You know, I don't know how I would have been.
There's something that you should be aware of.
Siri, who is the people finder in Sri Lanka, he has said there is a possibility that the paperwork that you have might not be authentic.
If that's the case, then that's really upsetting 'cause since my parents told me when I was 18, that's all I've ever known.
And to think it might not be real is a bit... Like, you know, who is she?
That's why I'm so anxious.
I don't know what I'm going to find.
-Do you worry about that?
-I do.
She's not... might not be alive.
Don't know if something awful happened to her and that's why she couldn't keep me.
Just praying, yeah, I get to find her.
Just want to say, really good luck, and I hope the search goes well.
[Yasika] Thank you.
-Bye!
Bye.
-Thank you, bye.
[Davina] But before Yasika leaves for Sri Lanka... our second story is of a father who's never forgotten the son he was forced to give up for adoption over 50 years ago.
[man] He was a lovely baby.
You know, I was proud.
I just loved the feeling of being a family man.
Richard Standen, a retired farmer, lives in Swindon close to where he grew up and met his first love.
[Richard] When I was 15, I just saw this blonde girl with blue eyes, Christine... and it started from there.
Christine and I, we was just enjoying life, listening to records, dancing.
We was born for each other.
[rockabilly music playing] Two years into the relationship, Christine fell pregnant and was sent away by her mother to have the baby in secret.
But Richard continued to see her.
And on the 6th January, 1966, the couple's son Darren was born.
[Richard] When I walked in...
I just couldn't believe that I saw Christine there with the baby.
As soon as I saw him, I just feel like a father, I just held him.
I was proud, but it was only two minutes.
Really, I wanted to spend the rest of my life with Christine and our baby.
But what Richard didn't know was that their parents had already arranged for Darren to be adopted.
And a social worker was waiting to take him away.
[Richard] The lady came in the room.
I don't know what I thought was gonna happen, but I still didn't think he was gonna be taken away.
It were just, it was so quick.
I couldn't think what was going on.
That was the last time I saw him.
He was our baby.
It was our baby she stole.
The hurt of losing Darren drove Richard and Christine apart just before they were to be married.
But even after Richard had a family of his own, he never stopped looking for his son.
And for Christine's family, the absence of Darren was painfully obvious too.
[woman] I think there was a lot of guilt that she carried in her heart about it.
Um... a lot of sadness.
Christine's daughter, Kim, remembers being told when she was 7 about the son her mother had given up.
[Kim] I had so many questions... but most of all I was so excited, really excited.
I've always wanted a brother, always wanted a brother.
But after that she didn't really wanna talk about him much more.
And I think later on in life, yeah, she really was quite, uh... tormented by it.
My mum passed away in 1997.
She took her own life.
She'd been really struggling for a long, long time, um, with depression.
After Mum had died...
I had this real need to find Darren... but I just didn't get anywhere.
There was nowhere to go with it.
With both Kim and Richard searching for Darren, three years ago they found each other and met up in the hope the other had more information.
I was so nervous.
I remember really being nervous about meeting him.
But it was the one opportunity I had to find Darren.
-Hello, Rich.
-[Richard] When I saw you, first I saw your eyes, -and I knew it was you.
-You knew I was my mum's daughter, did you?
[Kim] Do I remind you of my mum?
-Mm.
-Yeah.
Yeah.
And then what you went through was just horrendous, you know, what you and my mum went through together.
Now, Richard and Kim are united in looking for Darren.
You know, with losing Mum, it's kind of like... finding another part of my mum, you know that, that's, that's... -Which has gone, it should be there.
-Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, exactly, it should be there.
[Kim] It's important for me to find Darren.
The need to put things right, you know.
He was always in her heart.
Always.
Yeah.
[contemplative music playing] In almost all adoption cases, the new family changes the child's name, something which Richard and Kim could never have uncovered on their own.
So if we had any chance of finding Darren, we needed to discover his new identity.
We used a specialist intermediary, legally allowed to access adoption records.
And within weeks we had our first breakthrough.
The intermediary discovered that Darren had been adopted into the Robinson family and they had, in fact, kept his first name.
Amazingly, they'd also kept his middle name, Richard, after his birth father.
But when a search was done for a Darren Richard Robinson in the UK, no record could be found.
Suddenly, we were faced with a stark reality: Darren could be anywhere in the world.
Through tracking down Darren's adoptive family, we eventually discovered that he'd emigrated to Australia in 2001.
But what has Darren's life been like?
Has he ever wondered about his birth father?
And how will he feel about the news that his birth father and sister have come looking for him after all these years?
We have told him already that his mother has died, away from the cameras.
Thanks.
Darren.
Hi.
This is amazing here.
[Darren] Yeah.
Pretty good.
Pleased to meet you.
-You too.
-Come in.
-Who's this?
-That's Bonny.
Hey!
[laughs] How do you feel about the fact that your birth father and sister have been looking for you for so long?
Bit of a shock.
-A bit of a shock?
-Yeah.
You know.
It's great, really, you know, that they've been looking for me.
I knew ever since I was like 7 that I was adopted.
My mum told me, and my mum always talked to me about it.
-Mm.
-You know, it was never a problem.
And because of that, I was happy, you know.
I had my life and, and that was it, I was happy.
-That's good.
-Yeah.
But I never told anyone.
-Really?
-Even my boys now didn't know until all this come out.
Were you worried about people finding out you were adopted?
It was just my secret, you know.
Not a secret that I was ashamed of, but it was just my... thing.
So what do you think about this now?
I feel good about it because I can...
I can look into my past, you know.
-Everyone wants to know who they are, eh?
-They do.
Do you know anything about your birth family at all?
No.
Nothing.
Nothing at all.
Well, your parents were young teenagers when they met.
-Yeah.
-Fell in love, great relationship.
Your mother, Christine, got pregnant.
Their parents stepped in and said, "It's not gonna work, you're too young."
And so you were put up for adoption.
-Mm.
-And you were just taken away like that.
Pretty...
It's pretty heart breaking.
And Richard, your birth father, didn't really understand what adoption was 'cause he was so young, naïve about these things, that he was never gonna see you again.
It's preyed on his mind since he was 17 years old.
Yeah, it's... feel for him, you know.
Like, affected his, um, life.
And your sister, Kim had first found out about you when she was 7 years old.
She was on a mission to find you so that she can tell you what a beautiful person your birth mother was.
This is from them.
[Darren] "Dear Darren, I hope this letter finds you in good health and happy enjoying life.
It would be brilliant to see you for Kim and myself and you have never been forgotten in our family.
Always thinking of you, Darren.
Take care.
Kim and Richard, your birth dad."
Can't wait to meet them.
Hmm.
She's lovely, and, um, he's definitely my dad, eh?
That's me.
[Nicky] Well, seeing you is gonna mean the world to them.
Yeah?
It's nice to know who you are, innit?
-Hiya, Dad.
-Hey, boys.
Hey, Dad.
-How you going?
-All right.
They didn't want me to go, it was just the circumstances at the time.
-Yeah.
-It was just impossible to, to keep me, you know?
It's good that you've found a part of your life that you've never found, I guess.
-Yeah.
-We're proud of you.
[laughing] [Davina] Before we tell Richard and Kim the news that Darren's been found... Yasika Fernando and her husband Tillek are making the 5½ thousand mile journey to Sri Lanka in search of her birth mother, leaving their two-year-old daughter in London with Yasika's adoptive parents.
I hope she'll find her mum.
-[father] 'Cause she knows where she has come from.
-Yeah.
I think she will be really happy after that.
[mother] And Ivani, she will have two grandmas.
It's nice.
I love you.
I love you, I love you.
Leaving your child and going away is... yeah, it's hard.
It'll be a hundred times more for my birth mother leaving me, 'cause I know I'll be seeing Ivani when I come back.
[Ivani crying] [Davina] In Sri Lanka, Yasika and Tillek are meeting specialist people finder Siri Silva.
-Hello.
-Pleased to meet you.
Nice to meet you.
Tillek.
Siri has reunited more than 400 people with their birth families.
[Yasika] We're just praying we find something.
[Siri] Well, we have to go first to the hospital to check whether you were born there, the date of birth, everything's correct.
At the time of Yasika's birth, it was common for unmarried mothers to give false information to hide their identity.
[Yasika] I'm so nervous.
The name of my birth mother could be fake, so we might never find her.
Thank you.
To establish whether her paperwork is real and they have any chance of finding her birth mother, Siri is taking Yasika to visit the place where her records state she was born: Ragama General Hospital.
[Siri] So this is the record room.
She's Yasika, and to check the birth certificate, yes.
-Which country?
-From London, UK.
-UK.
-London.
Please check this name.
Niramana Gamage.
[speaking Sinhalese] [woman] [Siri] 1960.
Look at that.
[woman] [indistinct chatter] [Siri] [woman] [Siri speaking Sinhalese] [Siri] Okay, your birth is correct.
Yeah.
Ah... she's real.
She's real.
[man speaking Sinhalese] Yasika, there's your mother's name and also the date of the birth of the mother.
-[Yasika] Oh, my God, okay.
-[Siri] Niramana Gamage, it's exactly the same.
Exactly the same.
Her birth day is 1957 and then they also mention Marawila.
-That's more to the north.
-Okay.
-Yeah.
-There is the city your mother... -So, but no address.
-Okay.
[Siri] They also mention here the time of your birth.
-6:07 p.m. -[Yasika] Wow!
And you are the first from your family.
Wow.
I hope there are more.
[laughs] Wow!
It's just not knowing anything.
It's just having it here is amazing.
It's unbelievable.
I was not expecting that.
I just thought it won't be there.
But... it's not made up, it's not "someone says," it's actually on paper that I was born here and my birth mother exists.
-Thank you very much.
-Bohoma istuti.
-Bohoma istuti.
-Yes.
Thank you.
[Davina] But even though Yasika has confirmed her mother's name, date of birth and the city where she came from, without a specific address, Yasika is still no closer to finding her.
[contemplative music playing] It's been four days since Yasika Fernando left her daughter to fly to Sri Lanka in search of her birth mother.
[Yasika] I'm missing Ivani so much.
[phone dialing] Hey... Hey, Daddy, are you okay?
Is Ivani sleeping?
-Yes, she's sleeping.
-Okay.
-Aww... -How is everything?
Yeah, today was good.
When I got Yasika, I thought, oh, if she wants to look for her birth mother, I will help her.
Because there's nothing to lose, only to gain.
That's what I believe.
Give a big hug to Ivani, please.
-All right.
-I love you.
-Bye.
Bye.
-Bye-bye.
-Bye.
-Bye.
[pensive music playing] [Davina] Today, Siri, our people finder, is taking Yasika to the Good Shepherd Convent, where her adoption was arranged.
[Yasika] Have you been to this convent before?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I've been several times there.
-Oh, okay.
-Yeah, yeah.
Her birth mother looked after her there for 2½ months.
So Siri is hopeful the nuns might still have records for her.
A lot is riding on this because where else would I get any more information from, you know?
The Good Shepherd Convent is 150 years old and still looks after vulnerable mothers.
So they have strict rules about who can enter.
Although the nuns have agreed to meet Yasika, the cameras are not allowed to film in the convent.
-[Siri] Good afternoon, Sister.
-[nun] Afternoon.
-[Siri] So this... -[Yasika] Yasika... After hearing Yasika's story, the nun has agreed to search through the convent's adoption records to see if they've kept any information about Yasika's birth mother.
[Yasika] Just have to wait and see what she can find.
She did show me the room that I would have been in.
That was difficult.
Seeing those cots all in a row.
That's, like, how many babies, their mothers couldn't look after them.
And to give me away after looking after me for three months, that's hard.
That is so hard.
You know, she must have been in a really bad place.
It makes me want to find her even more.
As Yasika waits to hear what the nuns might discover... [gentle music playing] ...back in the UK, Richard Standen is also waiting for news.
He's spent a lifetime tormented by the loss of his son, Darren, who he was forced to give up for adoption over 50 years ago.
Having found Darren's sister Kim, the pair have been searching together.
It's been a long road.
It's been a long road.
Now I'm on my way to tell them that Darren's been found.
Having a child adopted is one of the hardest decisions a parent can ever make.
But when somebody else is deciding the future of your child, the consequences can be devastating.
Richard and Kim have lived with those consequences.
But I hope the news I can now give them will help them move forward.
-Hi, Richard.
-Hi, Davina.
Come on in.
-Ah, thank you.
-Is Kim here?
-[Richard] Yes, she's just in the kitchen.
-Great.
Thank you so much for talking to me today.
Richard, what's it been like not having Darren in your life?
-It's not been good.
-Mm.
Um...
It was the way he was taken away.
You know, could have been theft, you know?
And that's how I felt it was.
Yeah.
I mean, Kim, what would it mean to you to find Darren?
For me, finding a piece of my mum still alive, you know.
Hmm.
Well, Kim and Richard, we have found him.
[Richard exhales sharply] Have you?
Is he in this country?
[Davina] He lives in Australia.
You're kidding me!
He had a lovely life growing up.
-That's all we wanted.
-Just so pleased to hear that.
I'm so pleased to hear.
Did he know he was adopted?
He found out when he was 7.
His... -Wow!
-His adoptive mum told him.
But interestingly, the big thing for him was that he hadn't told anybody, and it wasn't because he was ashamed... -Yeah.
-...that he was adopted, but he felt that it was a secret that he wanted to keep for himself.
-So his children didn't know until this moment.
-He's got children of his own?
-He's got three children.
-Has he?
-Three boys.
-Three boys?
Oh, my God, I can't believe it.
And his name is still Darren then?
His name is still Darren.
It's Darren Richard.
Is it?
Can't believe it.
[Davina] He'd love to meet you both.
-He would?
-Yeah, well, I want to meet him.
Oh, my God!
All right, Kim.
All right, Kim.
Kim...
It's okay.
It's okay.
I actually cannot believe it, I never actually thought...
I never actually thought it would even happen, to be honest.
-Never.
-You okay?
I have got a picture.
Have you?
This is Darren.
-Oh, my God!
-[Richard exhales sharply] Oh, my God!
He does look like you, Rich.
Yeah?
[sniffles] [Richard] You can see he's a good man.
-It's my mum's son.
-[Richard] Yeah.
[Kim] That's my brother.
It's something that's been denied a long time.
I can't take my eyes off him.
[Davina] Aww.
Fifty-three years is a long time.
[contemplative music playing] Today, Richard and Kim will finally get to meet the missing member of their family, Darren.
I'm so nervous.
Can't wait to meet my brother.
[Richard] This is it, it's reality now.
Got a globe at home and I've got the globe pointing to Australia.
So...
I just can't believe today's happening.
-Hi.
-Hiya, Davina.
-How you doing?
Are you ready?
-Yes.
-Okay, well, let's go.
-Come on then, Rich.
[laughs] Darren has made the 10,000-mile journey from Australia to the town where he was born to meet his father and sister.
Excited about meeting them and seeing where I come from.
Think it will give me a bit of peace of mind.
Thank you.
-Darren, hi.
-Hey, Nicky.
-How you going, mate?
-You good?
-After you.
-Okay.
[Nicky] Did you ever think that this would ever happen?
No, actually.
I didn't.
-Yeah.
-It's a happy feeling of emotion.
Two new family.
[Davina] They're meeting at a pub not far from the place Richard last held Darren as a baby.
-Right.
-Okay, Nicky.
-Thank you very much.
-Good luck.
Yeah, thank you.
[Davina] How are you two feeling?
Nervous but very happy, I am.
We both need this in our lives.
It's been a long timing coming, Rich, really.
Yeah.
And, Kim, the last time I saw you, you had such an amazing reaction when you saw his photograph, and a lot of that was to do with, um, him being a piece of your mum.
[Kim] Yeah.
It's still part of my mum alive, isn't it?
That's just really special.
[Davina] So...
I'm gonna say goodbye to you guys here.
-Good luck.
-Oh, my God!
-Thank you so much.
-Good luck, Richard.
-Thank you very much.
-Darren's in there.
-[Kim] Thank you.
Thank you.
-Bye.
Come on then.
What we've been waiting for.
Thanks, Richard.
-[Richard] Hi, Darren.
-Good day.
Okay.
-Hello, sweetheart.
-Your sister.
[Kim] My brother.
You're my real brother.
Thank you.
That's all right.
I've got a brother.
And I've got another lad.
-Yeah.
-Yeah.
I've been worried for a long time whether you'd been all right.
And the day I did see you, I had hold of you for about two minutes.
And... but, um... You know...
I'm very grateful to your mum and dad for bringing you up well.
My mum had talked about it, but she used to get so upset about it, she never really used to talk too much.
So, you've always been wanted, you've always been loved.
My words to you two are absolute forgiveness.
Well, not forgiveness 'cause you never done anything wrong.
-Yeah.
-But I'm happy.
And it's the start of-- it's not gonna end here as far as I'm concerned.
No, no.
It's the start of something else.
-Yeah, that's it.
-I'm so... so pleased to find you.
[Richard] I can't believe it.
And when I saw his face, I couldn't believe his eyes.
I've found my son.
Couple of me when I was a, a little boy.
Oh, gosh.
Oh, my gosh, that's you, is it?
[Darren] Yeah.
Two there.
A real bouncer there, aren't you?
[Darren] Yeah, a Chubby Checker.
[Kim] Oh, wow!
Feel like I'm not alone anymore.
Definitely a weight off my mind, and I know that they wanted me.
Secret's out and...
I'm looking forward to making memories of them in the future.
In Sri Lanka, Yasika Fernando is waiting to see if the convent where she was adopted has any information that will help her find her birth mother.
What does your gut feeling say?
Do you think she's still alive?
Oh, I don't know.
I really don't know.
Yasika has decided to call the convent for an update.
[phone ringing] -Hello?
-[nun] Hello.
Hi, Sister, this is Yasika.
[nun] Yes, yes.
I found information.
Can you tell me?
No, no, you know I can't give you the information.
I have to go and search for your mother.
Sister...
Sorry, Sister, er, Sister... [in Sinhalese] [nun in Sinhalese] [Siri] Thank you.
God bless.
She said yes, we have information, but she's not... -She has to go... -She doesn't wanna disclose... [Siri] Yeah.
She says she's gonna call me, but can be one week, can be two weeks, we don't know.
She clearly has an address, isn't it?
-[Siri] Yeah, this means she has an address.
-She knows.
That's something.
More than the name, you know.
-Yeah.
-Yeah.
With no more time in Sri Lanka and with her daughter Ivani waiting for her at home, Yasika will have to return to the UK without having found her mother.
-See you soon, okay?
-See you soon, yeah.
I don't wanna even think about this being the end.
I'm leaving a little piece of me in Sri Lanka until I find her.
[Nicky] When we took on this search, we really didn't know how it would unfold.
Despite going to Sri Lanka, there was always the possibility that Yasika would be unable to trace her birth mother.
But five days after their return, Siri contacted us with an update from the convent.
The nuns weren't able to give him much information because Yasika wasn't with him.
But what he did discover would change Yasika's life forever.
You want orange juice as well?
Yeah, orange juice.
It must have been so disappointing for her to have to come home with no outcome.
But I can't wait to tell Yasika the news we've now discovered.
[knocks on door] -Hi, Yasika.
[laughing] -Hi, Davina.
Ivani, how are you?
It's lovely to see you.
-Awww.
-Do you want to come inside?
[women laughing] [Davina] So how was it when you went out to Sri Lanka?
Oh, it was amazing.
I wasn't expecting much from the trip, and actually it gave me hope, you know, knowing that the names are real, but we had to leave it all in the nuns' hands.
So we'll have to wait and see because, yeah, I don't have a timeline, I don't have anything.
Well, there is something I can tell you.
Um... five days after you came back... -Yeah... -...Siri and the nun went to the last known address...
Wait, though... because your mum wasn't there.
Mm, okay.
The person that was living there had a bit of information...
Okay.
...about your birth mother.
Because... she is your birth mother's mother.
-Oh, my... -Your grandmother.
Oh, no!
You're joking!
-You're joking?
-No.
Oh, my God!
My God!
Does she know... does she know anything?
She always knew about you.
So your grandmother gave the nun a phone number for your mother.
Oh, my God!
So she's still alive?
-She's still alive.
-[Yasika sighs] So they called the number.
-And?
-[Davina] She's overjoyed.
[sobbing] -She wants to see me?
-Mm.
Oh, my God!
Oh, my God!
Oh, bless... oh, bless.
-You're joking.
-No.
Oh, my God!
[sniffles] -She really wants to see me?
-She does.
[Yasika, laughing] Wow!
And do you know where she lives?
I can't give you much information because in Sri Lanka, any information has to be given to the adopted person, so they will only give it to you.
-Okay, okay.
-But we do know that your birth mother went on after she'd had you... -Okay.
-...and got married.
Oh, my God!
Really?
Her husband knew about you.
So she didn't keep it a secret?
-No.
-Oh!
Oh, bless her.
Oh, my God, this is like the best news I've ever had.
So what, what we'd like to do... -Yeah.
-...and what she'd like is for us to get you out there.
[Yasika] Oh, thank you so much.
Thank you.
I feel so light now.
[laughs] -Hello.
-Hello.
-I've got some news.
-Oh.
They've found my birth mother.
Umma, are you okay?
-[mother] Really happy for you.
-Thank you.
I love you.
-I love you.
-Good news.
Now give me five.
Give me five!
-Ah, good girl.
-You want to see your grandma?
-Okay.
-[father] That's good news.
-[Yasika] Babe... -What?
They've found my birth mother.
No.
Have they?!
-Really?
-[shrieks] Yeah.
-I know... -That is amazing.
Come here.
That is exactly what we wanted.
-I'm so happy for you.
-Thank you.
[Davina] Sadly, Yasika's trip to be reunited with her birth mother in Sri Lanka was thwarted again.
All flights were cancelled because of the outbreak of the coronavirus.
[Yasika] I'm not able to meet my birth mother at this time.
Um, haven't seen her still.
Um... but once, um...
I'm able to travel and they say it's okay, I will definitely make that trip.
And, you know, we have some news for her as well.
I'm pregnant again and hopefully, if all goes to plan, I'll be able to show her her two grandkids.
[peaceful music playing] They say, um, Iyla looks like me when I was little, is that true?
[man] Yes, she said yes.
Support for PBS provided by: