Unspoken: The Silent Truth Behind My Lifelong Trauma as a Forced Adoptee (Stolen Lives)

“I was two when the woman I called Mummy told me, ‘You came out of another mummy’s tummy.’ I grew up thinking that my birth mother didn’t want me. I assumed there must’ve been something inherently wrong with me – why else would a mother give up her baby?”In 1974, Liz Harvie – born Claire Elaine Watts – was given up for adoption by her birth mother Yvonne. Claire spent the first ten days of her life with Yvonne before being placed in a foster home. Almost eight weeks later, Claire’s adoptive parents collected her from the foster home – and renamed her Elizabeth.

Although brought up in a ‘perfect’ household, the emotional – and physical – trauma of being taken from her biological mother would never leave Liz. She constantly what does my real mum look like? Will she come back for me? Why did she abandon me?

Years later, aged 28, Liz reconnected with her birth mother – and finally learned the shocking truth surrounding her adoption. Yvonne had not abandoned her daughter. As a young unmarried mum, Yvonne had been deemed unfit as a parent and been made to give up her child against her will.

Liz was one of at least 185,000 victims of forced adoption between 1949 and 1976 in England and Wales. Although reunited, Liz and Yvonne are still struggling to cope with the agony resulting from their devastating separation.