UK adult adoptees: share your experience of reunion with a birth parent

UK adult adoptees: share your experience of reunion with a birth parent

June 11, 2026 / Sarkiya Ranen /


Guardian journalist David Batty has described the complex family trauma many adult adoptees have to navigate during reunion with their birth parents, often without professional support.

We would like other UK adult adoptees to share their experiences of adoption reunion. How challenging was it to forge relationships with birth relatives and to maintain them? What, if any, support did you receive? How did it impact your relationship with your adoptive family?

Please let us know if your reunion was also affected by historical forced adoption. Between 1949 and 1976, around 185,000 babies were taken from unmarried mothers and placed for adoption in England and Wales due to a culture of shame surrounding pregnancy outside marriage.

Share your experience

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