'They made my mum give me up because she was unmarried'

A man whose biological mother was forced to give him up for adoption said it took him 45 years to trace his birth family.

Reg Barker, 66, from Mildenhall in Suffolk, found out he was adopted aged 18 when applying for a passport.

Over the years, he learnt he had been born in Bristol and that his mother had been pressured by hospital staff to give him up for adoption.

The government said last week it would be issuing an apology to the victims of historical forced adoptions in England.

An estimated 185,000 babies were taken from mothers in the three decades after World War Two.

Mothers were pressured into giving up their babies because they were unmarried.

Barker found out about his personal history when he decided to go abroad on holiday.

"Obviously, to get a passport you need your birth certificate," he explained.

"I asked mum and dad for my birth certificate and they gave it to me and it had a different name on it... that's when they told me that I was adopted.

"It was a complete shock. I didn't have a clue.

"Nothing was said. Growing up, there were no indications."

Barker said he developed a strong sense of wanting to know who his biological parents were.

He started by contacting social services who then directed him to the Salvation Army — the Christian movement.

The Salvation Army was successful in finding his adoption papers which gave some details about his mother.

He learnt that he had been born in Bristol and as a baby he had been unwell.

His mother had been single and was pressurised by hospital staff to give him up so he could be cared for by a baby and toddler service and be adopted.

For three and a half years he was with that service, and his mother visited once a week before he was adopted.

While he had no recollections of her, and said his adopted parents had been "brilliant", Barker felt robbed of memories of his biological mother.

"For me that meant no bedtime hugs, no bedtime stories, no Christmases, no birthdays," he said.

"No Mother's Days, no Father's Days, no going on holidays, no getting walked to school or her seeing school productions, anything like that.

"That can't be replaced."

Barker said his quest for information as a young man had been hard on his adoptive mother as she feared he would leave and move back to Bristol.

However, he said he reassured her, and the whole family "understood that I had the right to know and I needed to know".

"It took 45 years and a lot of that was down to my oldest daughter Emma," he added.

"It came out in bits and pieces."

Barker was also able to dig into his father's background, learning he had three half-brothers and a half-sister.

He was able to meet them and said they were "the most amazing people".

"It's incredible... it's been an amazing journey, but there's more to find out because I've found out I've got cousins and relatives in America in the Brooklyn area.

"The story doesn't stop."

Barker did not get to meet either his biological mother or father. He said the closest he got to his mother was standing next to her coffin at her funeral.

"My birth mum saw me come into this world. I saw her leave this world."

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said an apology would be issued "very soon" by the government to those affected by forced adoption.

She added that those affected would "get the apology that you so profoundly deserve".

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