Last week Liz Harvie spoke in parliament about the painful impact of the policy of taking babies from unmarried mothers
Liz Harvie, photographed at home in Surrey. Harvie has been campaigning to highlight the recognition of the impact of forced adoption.Liz Harvie, photographed at home in Surrey. Harvie has been campaigning to highlight the recognition of the impact of forced adoption.Liz Harvie was 16 years old when she discovered her name was actually Claire Watts.
“It was mind-blowing,” said Harvie, now 48. “I was reading about a different person born in a different part of the country. Technically, it was me.” The scandal of forced adoption reached into every corner of the UK, but the stories of the families torn apart have largely gone untold.gave evidence on behalf of thousands of other adopteesThe hospice volunteer from Surrey described how groups “colluded” to remove children from unmarried mothers and called for an apology. “For many involved in forced adoption the right to family life was simply not honoured,” she told MPs.
Labrum had always dreamed of having a daughter but when she got pregnant at 19, her father “went mad”. The child’s father, Andrew Conant was a childhood sweetheart but they were not married, and their parents disapproved of the match. Labrum packed a bag for her daughter before putting her arms out to give her a final cuddle. But the social worker refused to pass her back. “I was standing there in floods of tears,” she said. “It was like having your heart ripped out of your chest.”
When they did eventually meet in 2002, at a hotel in Woodstock, Oxfordshire, they “cried and hugged and didn’t want to let go”, she said. They have since made up for lost time, learning each other’s life stories. They have lots in common: small hands, the same eyes, a silly sense of humour. Harvie also reconnected with her birth father, who trained in aromatherapy like her. She discovered she has five half siblings, including sisters she had always longed for.
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