The show returns with ‘Born Without Trace’ specials.
Foundlings are people abandoned as babies, often in the first days and weeks of their lives, who until now have been unable to solve the ultimate mystery of their lives – who they are. Born without trace, with no birth record or name, they have had no way of discovering the basic facts of their identity.
But for over four years, the team behind Long Lost Family has combined genetic genealogy with DNA testing technology to try to help more than thirty foundlings unlock the secrets of their past. All are searching for answers to the most fundamental questions: when’s my birthday; where do I come from; who are my parents and who am I?
Series four of this BAFTA award winning spin off series features six new foundlings and some of our most poignant stories ever. Shockingly, half of those featured are the children of married parents – something no one expected to discover when Long Lost Family set out to make this groundbreaking documentary series. And four foundlings meet full siblings who are able to help explain the struggles their parents faced including extreme hardship, mental health difficulties, social taboos and racism. We also feature the case of Natasha who meets her full sister who surprisingly is also a foundling.
As the stories unfold, the viewer is taken on an extraordinary journey through twists and turns worthy of any drama, but presenters Davina McCall and Nicky Campbell reveal information with sensitivity and compassion and always with the support and expertise of the team of social workers behind the scenes.
In the first episode, tonight, ITV meet Andy Hallsworth who was left on church steps over fifty years ago. He knows almost nothing about the circumstances of his birth. We also meet our youngest foundling to date, Natasha Carr who was left in public toilets inside London’s St Thomas’s hospital in 1989.
All Andy has to verify that he’s a foundling is a single a piece of adoption paperwork saying he was born ‘on or about’ 31st August 1965: ‘I haven’t got anything of my origins. I don’t even know if the 31st August is my birthday. Who found me, nothing.’ Amazingly, Andy sees his original birth certificate for the first time and realises that he was nearly two months old when he was found. Discovering that he spent the first few weeks of his life with his birth mother makes Andy even more determined to trace her ‘that would give me a lot of peace and hopefully her a lot of peace as well’.
Long Lost Family: Born without a Trace, ITV, STV, 9 pm
