[Davina] For thousands of people across Britain, someone is missing from their lives.

There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think of her.

[man] The major mystery for me is, who is he, where is he, and what did he turn into?

[woman] I wanna know, does he wanna be part of my life?

Does he want to get to know his daughter?

But all too often, years of searching lead nowhere.

Well, this is the series that steps in to help, offering a last chance to people desperate to find long lost family.

They've found her!

[shrieking] This has been a long road.

Come here.

Now we found each other.

Your son has been found.

Oh, wow!

Our searches have uncovered family secrets and taken us all over the world, finding people that no one else has been able to trace.

Two walks in a park, two different families.

-Yeah.

-And one incredible story.

So all this time she thought, "He doesn't want to know me," you've been searching for each other.

[Davina] And finally answering the questions that have haunted entire lives.

I don't know if you can understand what that means.

It's fantastic, fantastic.

[sniffles] This time two women, both born to unmarried mothers in the 1960s... You know in those days, you were stoned in the marketplace for being an unmarried mother.

[woman] It was absolutely forbidden to talk about it.

It was a dirty secret.

...who have spent a lifetime searching for the mothers who gave them up for adoption.

To think that she didn't want to see me, wasn't interested, would be heartbreaking, absolutely heartbreaking for me.

[dramatic music playing] Our first story starts just outside Leeds, with a mother of three who came to us for help after looking for her birth mother for nearly 20 years.

Right, before we leave, I'll just brush your hair.

Trying to block me out?

-Yes, Mummy.

-[laughs] For 42-year-old Sarah Gayle, her children mean everything.

And she strives to bring them up in the same way she was by her adoptive family.

There.

Looks lovely.

[peaceful music playing] Sarah was adopted in 1968.

She had a happy childhood with her parents and two brothers in Surrey.

I feel so lucky to have been adopted by two parents that desperately wanted a baby.

Right from the off, it was portrayed to me as a very positive thing.

Quite a fairy tale thing.

They'd gone and chosen me and that...

I was desperately longed for, wanted.

But despite her loving family, there was a feeling that Sarah just couldn't shake.

I mean, as I got older I did feel that I wasn't really, really like them.

I've always kind of been short and dumpy and that isn't my family at all.

We're not really similar personality wise either.

That doesn't mean I don't get on with them, but we're not really similar.

In her early 20s, Sarah decided to try and unravel the mystery of her identity.

The one massive thing about being adopted is this huge curiosity about the person that you're related to, that you've never seen.

You've never even seen a picture.

It's the curiosity that's just so massive that you can't get rid of it.

So she applied to see her original adoption file.

The file named her mother as Susan George, who was only 20 when she had Sarah.

She'd been living in London, but was originally from a small village in Derbyshire.

I found out that she was... had a good job.

She was 5' 4", blue eyes, dark hair.

Every bit of the file that I've read, I'm always trying to look for that similarity between me and her, because I want there to be someone out there who looks a bit like me and is a bit like me.

In the file was Susan George's last known address, 93 Warwick Road.

This is the first time Sarah has ever been to this tangible part of her mother's life.

If I'd have found out I was pregnant at that age, I would have been devastated.

It isn't what... it isn't an ideal course of action for any young girl.

I think back in the end of the '60s, it seemed like the right thing to do was to give your baby up.

In the weeks leading up to Sarah's birth, Susan George was sent to a home for unmarried mothers just four miles from here.

Even in the late '60s, a supposedly liberal era, having a child out of wedlock was a source of great shame.

And hundreds of these homes existed across Britain.

Are you sure your mother doesn't know?

Mothers have a way of knowing.

No, she must never know.

All right.

About a month before it's due, we'll be able to get you into a mother and baby home.

Mother and baby homes provided a place away from the prejudices of family and neighbors, where unmarried mothers could go in the weeks leading up to and after the birth of their babies.

In 1968, the year Sarah was born, more than 7,000 women were sent to these homes and were given little choice but to give their babies up for adoption.

The one time that I really hope that she's thinking about me is when it's my birthday.

It's the one time of year that I do have a little bit of a wabble, nothing ever seems right for me.

I always...

I'm a bit out of sorts.

And part of me thinks it's because I start to think, is she thinking about me?

Isn't she thinking about me?

Has she forgotten about me?

It's been almost 20 years since Sarah received her adoption file, and she's been searching for her mother ever since.

She's even hired a private investigator, but all her attempts have ended in failure.

The older I got, the more I realized that there was a limited time to this thing.

I couldn't just decide when I was 50 or 60, because it might be too late by then.

But with the pressure of time, Sarah's search has become bolder in the last year.

I went to Derbyshire, to the village where she'd grown up.

Knocked on a couple of doors, trying to see if anyone had remembered her or knew her whereabouts.

I met an old lady who said yes, she did know her and that she thought she'd moved abroad, possibly to South America, South Africa.

I didn't take it as definite, but this is what this old lady had thought.

With so many unknowns, Sarah realizes her search may not end well.

To think that she didn't want to see me, wasn't interested, wouldn't even respond to me, would be heartbreaking.

Absolutely heartbreaking for me.

I want to find her because I've wanted to find her all of my life.

But I just don't dare think that it's a possibility.

I don't dare think I could be that lucky.

Because then I'll have to go through all the disappointment.

[Nicky] Normally our first step when starting a search like this would be to trace Sarah's mother, Susan George, via her relatives, but this wasn't an option.

Back in the '60s, having a baby out of wedlock was a real taboo.

The shame was often so great that even close family members were kept in the dark.

So there was a strong chance that Susan's family knew nothing about her pregnancy, or the adoption.

So the only thing we could do was try and piece together a picture of what happened to Susan George after the birth.

We checked birth, marriage and death records and discovered that Susan had married an Alan Newall in 1975 and became Susan Newall.

But after this, we couldn't find any record of a Susan Newall with the right date of birth in the UK.

All we had left was the rumor that Sarah discovered when she went to the village in Derbyshire where her mother grew up.

She was told that Susan had gone to either South Africa or South America.

But which was it?

We then managed to find a distant relative of Susan's husband, Alan Newall, who thought that the couple had settled in South Africa in the '70s.

But even if Susan was living in South Africa, we still faced a massive problem of finding her.

As ever, our best hope lay with the electoral rolls, but unfortunately, unlike Britain, they're not digitized in South Africa, so going through them was a painstaking process.

Eventually though, we came across a Susan Newall, living on her own just outside Pretoria.

And she had the right date of birth.

We had found Sarah's birth mother.

Susan is now single, having divorced in the 1980s.

She has a son 12 years younger than Sarah and worked for the Red Cross until retiring last year.

We're not far off from Susan's house.

And to think that Sarah has been wondering about this woman, her birth mother, for years and years and years.

The Silverberg.

That's it there.

That's where she lives.

That's where Susan lives.

This is it.

-Susan.

-Nicky.

-Nicky Campbell.

-Pleased to meet you.

Please come in and have a seat.

Thank you very much.

So how did you feel when you first heard the news that she was looking for you?

Overwhelmed and shocked.

After so long, I didn't think that she would try and find me.

When you found out, was it a great day?

Oh, absolutely.

I phoned up all my friends, everybody I could think of, you know, I mean, I phoned my sister in England, you know.

I mean, yeah, I mean, I was like a crazy woman.

You know, I mean, it was very, very exciting.

One of Sarah's big fears is that you haven't thought about her.

-You've just forgotten her.

-She's never been forgotten.

And I have a photograph of her in my lounge all the time.

And, uh... she's never been hidden.

Uh... my friends know about her.

My little church know about her.

My son.

What would it mean to you to see just her face?

[gasps] It's indescribable.

Indescribable.

There she is.

[gasps] She has my eyes!

Oh, my goodness.

It's a beautiful smile.

[Nicky] So what happened?

What was the story?

How old were you?

-I was 19.

-What happened?

Okay, well, first of all, I came from a little village in Derbyshire called Wingerworth, and then I went off to London and I met this really drop-dead-gorgeous guy called Elvaro.

He was from Argentina.

I went out with him for a good few months.

He asked me to marry him.

I said, "Oh, no, we're too young."

And I never saw him again.

After that, I found out I was pregnant.

And I couldn't find him.

He disappeared from your life and then you found out you were pregnant?

You must have been absolutely devastated.

I was.

Being pregnant and not being married 42 years ago was almost like being branded a witch in the middle ages.

You know, I dreaded telling my parents.

My father was a wonderful man, he was an ex-Royal Marine Commando, lost his leg in the war.

He was a marvelous man.

And all this, this hurt.

He was just very disappointed in me.

He said, "I didn't expect this of you."

[sighs] You know, the ground could have swallowed me up.

Um...

I went to this, it was a home for unmarried mothers in Putney.

And we had to look after the babies for six weeks to make sure that we had made the right decision.

That was very hard.

And, uh... and then after the six weeks, the nurse came and took her away.

And I bought her all nice dresses and a teddy and sent her away with everything.

And then the next day I went home to my mum.

And I remember I cried all the way home on the train.

Nobody really understood what I'd gone through, because nobody knew, not even my sister.

So you know, it was very, very difficult to keep all this to yourself.

Did you try and find her?

No.

But it's not that I didn't want to.

I think I was more afraid, from upsetting the apple cart.

And with her adoptive parents, you know, who was I to step in and, you know, say, "Well, here I am," you know?

You know, "I'm your mother, I've come to claim..." I just didn't think that was right.

So, the news that she's been looking for you?

Whew!

It's amazing!

Absolutely amazing.

It's more than I deserve.

It's more.

It's not more than you deserve.

It's exactly what you deserve.

I've always said in my prayers to God that I would either like to meet her in this life or the next one.

And I'm just happy that it's in this one.

Our second story comes from Australia and a British woman who was also born in a mother and baby home in the '60s.

But this time, the woman we needed to find left no clues about her life or how she could be traced.

[peaceful music playing] Twenty years ago, Laura McCarthy left the UK in search of a new life in Sydney, Australia, desperate to escape her troubled past.

-Hello.

-Hi, honey.

Hello, how are you?

-I'm good.

How are you?

-I'm tired.

Laura is now happily married to Pete, with a son, Max.

But there's a question at the heart of her life which she can't escape.

I've always felt as though I need to make an apology for existing.

Almost like I was wearing a sign on my head that said "I'm adopted.

I'm not worthy."

Laura grew up in Oxford and always knew she was adopted.

She was always curious about her birth mother, but apart from being told her mother's name, Linda Williamson, the subject was strictly taboo.

It was absolutely forbidden to talk about it.

Any time I did try and talk about it, I was told quite clearly that that wasn't to be discussed, and so very, very early on I realized that for some reason it was a dirty secret.

When she was 18, she took matters into her own hands.

Now legally entitled to access her adoption files, Laura's search for her birth mother could begin.

There was a process you had to follow and I had to see a counsellor before I was given the file, and it was ceremoniously opened and it had nothing in it.

I do remember them saying that if my biological mother had wanted to be found at a later date, then she had the opportunity to put something in that file to be read when I was 18, but it was empty.

Over the next few years, Laura continued to search for her mother with no success and on moving to Australia, finally gave up.

But then with the birth of her son Max 15 years ago, everything changed.

I literally gave birth to him one day and the next day I thought, as soon as I get out of here I have to do something about the search.

I just realized how important that blood link is.

He's the only person on the planet who looks like me, who's like me.

And it really brought home to me how much I really wanted to find my other family.

Now on the other side of the world from where she was born, Laura employed an international search agency to help her.

They unearthed some startling new information.

Her mother, Linda Williamson, was only 16 years old when Laura was born in a Northampton mother and baby home called St. Saviour's.

I can't imagine how difficult it must have been in 1966 for a 16-year-old to have gone through what she had to go through.

And I would so love to meet... my biological mother to tell her that, that in no way should she feel any blame or any guilt, or anything negative about what she had to do.

And that wasn't the only discovery the researchers made.

I believe that when she was 17, she married a man called Andrew John Barnes.

I believe she had a little girl with him and I think her name was Alison.

So that would be my half-sister.

So she would be, you know, a couple of years younger than me.

But when the investigators followed up these new leads, nothing could be found of Linda and her new family.

Laura was back to square one.

Not knowing is the hardest thing to live with.

Not knowing... if she's ever thought about me, not knowing if she has blocked me out of her mind.

Not knowing what happened to her afterwards.

Yeah, that's the hardest bit is the not knowing.

When Laura first came to us, it looked like all lines of enquiry had been exhausted.

With so much information already having been discovered, the best we could do was look at her files and hope that something had been missed.

[Nicky] The last known facts about Linda Williamson were that she married an Andrew Barnes in 1967 and gave birth to Alison a few months later.

So we searched for a Linda Barnes with the right date of birth, but came up with nothing.

Undeterred, we started searching for Linda's second daughter, Alison.

Now, there were lots of Alison Barnes, but one stood out in particular.

Born to a mother with a maiden name Williamson, at approximately the right time, and within 50 miles of where Laura was born in Northampton.

Could this be Laura's sister?

We contacted Alison to see if she knew a Linda Williamson.

She confirmed Linda was her mother but that she'd died eight years ago aged just 53.

We then told Alison that she had an older sister Laura, who had been searching for Linda for 20 years.

I'm on my way to meet Alison.

And I'm not entirely sure how it's gonna go.

Uh...

But I really, really want to find out more about Laura's mother.

Astonishingly, Alison told us that Linda had been missing from her childhood too.

She walked out on her family in 1972 when Alison was four years old, to begin a new life in America.

Alison was raised by her father and stepmother and only got to know Linda as an adult.

Alison now works as a graphic designer and has two children of her own.

-Hi, Alison.

How are you?

-Hi, Davina.

Come in.

-I'm fine, thank you.

You?

-Yes, good, thank you.

Thank you for agreeing to meet me.

Uh, as you know, we are searching on behalf of Laura and she's looking for her birth mother, Linda, who is also your mother.

What was your relationship like with her?

Well, it wasn't a typical mother-daughter relationship because, you know, we were apart for such a long time.

It's sort of unthinkable that a mother would not just leave one but leave two children.

But, what sort of a person was she?

Why did she do that?

She was quite, um... strong minded.

I think she knew what she wanted from life and I think perhaps being tied down with children wasn't really the life I think she planned for herself.

You're amazingly magnanimous about it.

I wasn't always.

I was resentful when I was younger.

But then you just, you know, you just have to get on with your life and you just, you know, I've got my children, my husband, and I just get on with it.

Have you got a picture that you could show me?

Yeah, definitely, yeah.

I've got quite a few actually.

[Davina] Oh, albums.

Brilliant.

Here we go.

There we go.

She was quite young there.

That's a lovely picture of her, isn't it?

[Alison] Yeah.

[Davina] Did she talk about Laura?

She must have mentioned Laura to me when I was very young because I've always known about Laura.

I've always known that I've got a big sister.

When I was little, I used to think, oh, I wish she was here so I could play with her and tell her secrets, and, you know, as you get older, I remember when I got married, I missed her then.

Yeah, I bet you did.

I really thought about her a lot on that day.

-She's always a part of my life.

-She's a part of you.

Yes, always, always.

Would you like to see a picture?

[gasps] Really?

Yes, I'd love to.

God.

She's gorgeous.

She's... just, oh, look at her.

I can see Linda in her as well.

It's so nice.

I feel like we've got a bond because Linda as well left me, I suppose.

And I kind of feel that's something that we've got in common as well as being sisters obviously.

Just hope that she's always been happy.

That's the thing.

She did grow up in her adopted family, but she always did feel a little bit like she was a round peg in a square hole.

And even though she did know she was adopted, she was never allowed to discuss it.

She felt that it was a bit like a dirty secret.

You see, it was never, never for us, for our family.

She never was.

I would imagine that would mean a lot.

Yeah.

I just... it feels like I've just waited for the phone to ring, or the door to go and to hear her voice say, "I'm your sister."

And now it's happening, it's just... it's amazing.

[Nicky] I've come to Australia to see Laura.

Out of respect, we've already told her the news about her mother wi thout the camera being there.

-Laura.

Nicky.

-Hi.

How are you?

Good.

I'm so sorry about the news about your mother.

It must have been devastating for you.

I mean, we wanted to find out as much as possible.

We wanted to bring you good news.

How's that been?

It's hard.

I wish I'd done this earlier.

You know, and, uh... Been thinking about how she had such a short life.

Are you ready to see a photograph?

Oh, my God.

Yeah.

This is your mother.

[gasps] Well...

I think I've got her eyes.

-She's beautiful, isn't she?

-She is beautiful.

[clicks tongue] [Nicky] I love this one too, actually.

[Laura] There's a determined look.

Am I allowed to keep them?

-They're yours.

-They're mine.

Thank you.

I've gotta say, one of the huge joys of my own experience is the experience of meeting siblings.

I think I know I have one sister.

-Yeah.

-I think her name's Alison.

-Yeah.

-I've always wanted a sister.

Well, she always wanted a sister as well.

In fact, she knew about you from a very early age.

So you were always a part of Alison's life.

Do you have photos of her too?

[Nicky] That is your sister.

[Laura] Oh, my God.

She's beautiful.

[sighs] She's gorgeous.

She's my baby sister.

There's a letter here from your sister.

[Laura] Gosh.

"Dear Laura."

"After so many imagined conservations with you in my head, to know that you're actually going to read these words fills me with joy."

"Ever since I was a little girl, I've known I had a big sister and I used to wish you were there to play dolls with and tell secrets to."

"Laura, I know you must have been incredibly sad to learn that Linda is no longer with us."

"I know that she would have been so pleased that you'd found your family."

"We have so much time to make up for."

"So as I come to the end of this letter, I'm excited that this is just the beginning."

"See you soon."

[sniffles, laughs] "Love, Alison."

[laughing] I would so love to meet her.

And she would love to meet you.

I'm so happy.

-Are you?

-Yeah.

Where are you, Pete?

Look what I've got.

-[crying] -Is that her?

-Oh!

-That's my sister.

-Do you think she looks like me?

-[Pete] Yeah, absolutely.

Forty-two years ago, Sarah Gayle was born in a mother and baby home and given up for adoption.

She's been searching for her birth mother since she was in her 20s.

I'm on my way to give Sarah the news that we've found her mother Susan alive and well in South Africa.

-Hi.

-Hi, Davina.

-Come in.

-You all right?

-Yeah, I'm good, thank you.

-Thank you.

Thanks.

[sighs] Well, thanks for seeing me.

-Oh, it's great.

-Yeah.

Well, I'm here today because I have got some news about your search.

You look a bit surprised.

Yeah, I'm really surprised.

I'm really surprised.

We have found your mum.

Have you really?

I don't feel like I can breathe.

She's well.

I just didn't think it was ever a reality.

[exhales sharply] She's living in South Africa.

-Is she really?

-Yeah.

Wh-What did she say when you told her?

-She was thrilled.

-Was she really?

Absolutely thrilled.

[inhales sharply] I can't even tell you how thrilled I am.

I'm just absolutely speechless.

Oh, my God.

Had she forgotten about me?

She's never forgotten about you.

Really?

She's never forgotten about you.

Before I tell you any more, would you like to see a picture?

Oh, God, yeah.

[laughing] Okay.

[Davina] She looks rather lovely, I think.

[Sarah] Yeah, she does.

I'm so shocked.

I'm absolutely flabbergasted.

She never forgot about you, and she felt absolutely awful about giving you away, but she felt like she didn't have an option to keep you.

And that the moment that she gave you away was the worst moment of her life.

-She remembers it so vividly... -Really?

...the day that they came and took you away and... was an incredibly painful moment for her.

It wasn't that she'd wanted to give you up.

She's always loved you with all her heart.

Well... this is just heaven.

I don't think I could have even imagined...

I can't believe it.

I absolutely can't believe it.

She's written you a letter.

Has she really?

Would you like to read it?

Yeah, yeah, I really would.

"Dear Sarah Louise."

"It was the most wonderful surprise when I received the phone call about you."

"I was overwhelmed and overjoyed at the thought of being able to meet you at long last."

"You've been constantly in my thoughts and prayers, and I have a beautiful photo of you as a baby displayed in my lounge."

"I'm longing to meet you and hear all about your life, which I hope has been and is a very happy one."

"I was married for 11 years and have a son, your brother, called Gareth."

"He's 31 and married and has just had twin girls."

"I send you lots of love and look forward to seeing you soon."

I never thought this was gonna happen.

I just can't believe I could ever be this lucky.

[peaceful music playing] [Davina] Well, Sarah's face said it all, didn't it?

She looked so flabbergasted, and really she'd never dared to hope that she might find her mother one day, because with hope could come severe disappointment.

But, finally, when she meets her, she'll be able to ask her all those unanswered questions from years of curiosity.

[doorbell rings] -Hi, Davina.

-How are you?

-Are you all right?

-Yeah, not too bad, thanks.

Right, come on.

Nicky is on his way to meet Susan, who's flown in from South Africa for her reunion with Sarah.

There you are.

Looking wonderful.

Thank you very much.

You too.

-It's a beautiful day.

-It's lovely.

-Yeah.

-Almost like South Africa.

-After you.

-Thank you.

[Nicky] How've you been?

[Susan] I've been fine.

I've been fine.

Nervous.

Very nervous actually.

There is a fear that here I am, I'm the mother that gave you away.

It's not a nice... it's not a nice feeling to have.

Do you know the first thing my birth mother -said to me when I met her?

-What?

The very first thing she said: "Sorry."

And I thought, there's no-- this is not what this is about.

This is-- I don't want you to feel like that.

There's no reason for you to feel like that.

[Susan] No, but that's what you want to say, what you feel.

Surely this is the time for that guilt to just go.

Yeah.

[contemplative music playing] I didn't know that I would feel so scared.

Um, and I'm guessing it must just be because I want to make a good impression, and I think nobody wants to think that someone's disappointed in them, because... -And are you worried about that?

-Well, I don't-- Are you worried she's gonna feel disappointed in you?

[Sarah] I hope not.

But it is something that I've thought about.

[Davina] As the woman that gave birth to you, she's just going to think you're perfect.

-God, that would be good.

-In every way.

Sarah wants to meet Susan at a local beauty spot, not far from where she lives.

[dog barking] -See you.

-Thank you.

Bye-bye.

Thanks, Davina.

-Thank you.

-Good luck.

Thanks.

Can you feel my heart?

[laughs] [exhales sharply] Oh, hello.

[crying] Thank you.

Thank you.

Do you know, I can't tell you how lucky I feel.

You're not lucky.

-I'm the lucky one.

-No, I'm the lucky one.

No, no, no.

Sit down.

[sighs] Do you know what?

I just thought you'd forgotten about me.

No, never.

-When I read that letter... -Never!

I can't even tell you how happy I was.

Never, never, never, never.

You are so like my mother, it's not true.

-Really?

-Absolutely.

All my life I wanted to look like someone.

I'm so pleased to meet you.

Oh, and I'm so... My goodness, so pleased to meet you.

-Come on.

-Were you really scared?

-Were you really scared?

-Terrified.

Terrified, very nervous.

Very nervous.

I'm absolutely breathless.

-I am.

I am.

-Breathless and speechless.

I know, I am.

I'm like, I want a drink.

-Oh, me too.

Yes, yes, yes.

-[laughing] Oh, God!

It's just... [Susan] It's like an animal that recognizes its young.

It's a... You know, the heart just went out and... because I don't know her yet.

But it was just this... and I knew she was mine and there, you know, the maternal feeling just came up.

And someone said to me that once you've met her, you will be able to relax, and that nagging, nagging thing that's just been irritating you will be gone, and it is.

And I can.

I can just relax now and... and feel peaceful.

[Davina] Ever since she was a young girl, Laura McCarthy has wanted to find her birth mother.

Unfortunately we discovered that she died eight years ago.

But we did find Laura's half-sister Alison.

Now Laura's flown in from Australia with husband Pete to meet her sister for the first time.

So are you ready for this, honey?

-God, I'm so nervous.

-[laughs] It's just the hugest thing that's ever happened to me.

I can understand that.

It's so weird.

'Cause, you know... that this person is, you know, that she's a blood relation of mine and until today the only blood relative I have, that I know of, is my own child.

-Yeah, your own son, yeah.

-So it's really strange.

Am I gonna be everything she's hoped and dreamed for?

I'm scared she'll be disappointed.

In my mind I've always known that she's my big sister.

And it does, it feels like I'm gonna meet my big sister.

I hope that we'll be friends as well as sisters, you know.

That's what I'm hoping for too, to have a really good mate.

-Hi, Nicky.

-There you are.

-How are you?

-I'm great.

-Here we go.

-Okay.

Let's go.

I'm scared she won't.

You know?

[Nicky] Scared she won't what?

Get in the car.

-Scared she won't like you?

-Yeah.

How can anyone... what's not to like about you?

[Laura] Well, 'cause she's been thinking about me for 40 years.

-Yeah?

-And maybe I'm not kind of gonna match up.

[Nicky] Course you are.

[Davina] One of the places Laura wanted to visit while in the UK was the mother and baby home where she spent the first few weeks of her life being cared for by her mother.

It's also where she wants to meet her sister.

St. Saviour's mother and baby home closed down in the early '70s and is now a convent.

-[Nicky] Shall I?

-You may.

Hello.

Nicky.

And Laura.

Right.

Day room.

[laughs] Day room.

[Nicky] Have a seat.

Uh... is this the first time you've ever been somewhere that your mother has been?

Yeah.

I just hope that she was happy, you know.

I mean, I just hope that she was okay when she was here.

It feels like a happy house to me.

It doesn't feel like how I thought it would feel.

I think she's here, you know.

And I don't believe in all that sort of stuff, but I feel like she's here.

Well, somebody who's gonna be here very, very soon is your baby sister.

Baby sister.

[giggles] Yeah, she is.

-I'm gonna leave you.

-[inhales sharply] Okay.

Thank you.

[laughs] [contemplative music playing] [laughs] Hello.

Oh, God.

-Oh, I can't believe it.

-I can't believe it either.

-[Alison laughs] -Come and sit down.

[Alison] Thank you.

Oh.

You look like Linda.

-Do I?

-Yeah.

-Your eyes are just like hers.

-Really?

Really.

Your facial expressions are just like hers as well.

-Really?

Wow.

-Yeah.

And you look like our Aunty Carol.

-Really?

-Yeah, you look just like her.

You know, the most wonderful thing for me is to hear about how you've always known about me and how you wanted to meet me, 'cause I never ever, ever, in a million years, thought that it would be like this.

I just assumed that I was this little thing that no one ever wanted to talk about.

-No, no, no.

-And I didn't know that you -felt like that at all.

-I've always known about you and I've always known that you were gonna find us, always.

Well, I've been trying for years and years.

You're my sister.

I'm just so sorry I wasn't there for you.

And me.

And Aunty Carol said that, you know, later on, Linda was always wondering what you were up to and how you were getting on.

I feel a bond with you already because she wasn't, she wasn't really there much for me either.

You've basically grown up without her too.

I think she made mistakes when she was younger.

Had you have come when she was alive, she would have welcomed you with open arms, she would.

And you know, in your letter that you wrote to me, and it said you couldn't wait to welcome us into the family?

I really hung on that word, the family, not our family.

It wasn't like you were saying it's your family and I'm coming in.

You just said it like it was the family and I was already in it.

Yeah, well, you are.

You just haven't met us.

It doesn't mean you're not part of our family.

I'm really sorry Linda's passed away.

But you have changed my life by saying that.

That's more than I could possibly have hoped for.

You were never a dirty little secret.

We always knew about you.

We just hoped one day you would come and find us.

[laughing] [Davina] Next time, a family looking for their missing sister.

[woman] You don't know what to do.

You don't know whether to grieve, look.

It's very, very, very hard.

And a man tormented by the memory of the last words he said to his father.

I didn't like to see me Mum upset and crying so I did what she asked me to do.

I told him I didn't want to see him anymore.

I never seen him again.

And what's mind-blowing is that was 42 years ago.

[peaceful music playing]