Long Lost Family

BlueBell in Scotland, Wales, England and Ireland the
Catholic Church played a big part in unmarried pregnant
women being disowned by their parents ? The Anglican Church and the Salvation Army didn’t have homes for unmarried mothers ?

It was of it’s time, as was many, many couples forced into marriage because of the shame of it’s time.

How many mothers in this programme gave up their babies
because they couldn’t afford to keep them ? They were not
all from Catholic families. Not all pregnant because of rape
by priests.

One woman in one programme this week and the church and Nun attacks start .

Oh dear. That's not what I was saying. I am sure many homes did a good job and treated mothers kindly. We just don't hear about them. But there was no practical help for mothers to keep their babies. There should have been.
We are all responsible for making sure everyone is treated right.

Yes annepl there was no practical help, now there is, very few babies are adopted now.

I can clearly remember ‘ she got herself pregnant ‘. ‘he had to marry her’, it was society attitude to unmarried mothers .

Did anyone see last night’s episode? Julie found her Mum but she was more interested in the twins that she gave away...I felt. Poor Julie.

I always watch the programme. I am one of three sisters. The only legitimate one!!! Well I have known my eldest sister for many years but now looking for the younger one. “I” have been seen many times locally twice by eldest son who approached her thinking it was me! Whether it will come to anything I do not know.

I wake up in the morning and think "Oh good it's Long Lost Family today" and then I cry throughout it! What is that about?

Poppyred I thought the same thing about Julie and the twins.
She had made no attempt to find them and poor Julie was the catalyst.
“They were such beautiful babies” “ I loved them so much”
I felt her life wasn’t as spoiled as other people’s have been by losing her children.

I have sometimes felt the same about other mothers who have been found, it is the ones searching who have such anguish.

I agree annsixty - I feel that Julie and the twins mum was not nearly as emotional as you would expect. Don't some people have complicated lives?

In the 1970s I fostered babies from a week old who were to be adopted. Some came from quite poor homes and some from very good homes. One baby especially sticks in my mind . Her mother was in her 20s and a school teacher and it was her ( the mother's ) father who refused to allow her to bring this baby home . This was in the north of Scotland no Catholic influences there but strict Presbyterians . At one point the mother wanted us to keep the baby long term until she could have her but luckily she changed her mind. It would have broken my heart to refuse yet broken it to keep her for maybe years and then give her up. Happy to say she was adopted by two teachers who were over the moon to get her. I bet she turned into a bright little girl .I would love to know how she turned out as I would with all the babies . Only one was reclaimed by his mother who must have talked her family round .

It's always easy to make judgements I suppose, and we only ever get a snapshot of the family history on LLF. The mum last night did say she'd been in a violent marriage (relationship?) and it was felt that the twins weren't thriving in that environment, so perhaps they were actually taken into care rather than given up, but it was hushed up? Things were quite different back then and perhaps she felt she couldn't intrude on their lives after she 'abandoned' them? I don't know...

We've recently found out that one of DH's aunts had a child before she was married. I was terribly sympathetic and had a whole scenario worked out in my head about the torment she must have gone through giving up a baby, but actually it wasn't a baby she gave up and I'm horrified at how she treated that boy, who by all accounts was emotionally scarred his whole life. I knew her for many years and would never have thought it of her - I suspose you just don't know what goes on in other people's lives or why they behave the way they do.