Trim woman and brother reunited in tv3 adoption series
The documentary series, 'Adoption Stories', produced by Flawless Films for TV3, looks at how so many Irish families have been affected by adoption. From adult adoptees searching for their roots to natural parents living without their child, the impact of adoption is highlighted through the testimony of those who experienced it first-hand.
In the fifth episode of the series, tomorow night on TV3, we meet Paul Little who was born in 1967 and was adopted by a couple who already had two adopted daughters. He grew up in Ashtown, close to the Phoenix Park and never suspected he was adopted, because people used to remark on how much he looked like his sister and mother. It was only when he was applying for a job and needed his long form birth certificate that he found out - at the age of 27.
The fact he had been adopted had been well and truly at the back of his mind for years and was never something he was interested in actively investigating. However, he had submitted his details to the National Contact Preference Register in 2007, which was an incentive by the Adoption Board and various adoption support groups, to facilitate reuniting natural parents and the children they had given up for adoption.
Paul was on his way to a wedding when he got a call from the HSE. A social worker rang to tell him he had been matched with a sibling. He couldn’t believe it. He had given a little thought to what his mother might have gone through as a single mother in 1967, but it never occurred to him he might have a sibling - a sister who wanted to meet him.
Maggie Lyng was born in 1974 and adopted by a couple who also adopted a baby boy. She had a wonderful, happy childhood in Trim, and was very close to her family. As soon as she turned eighteen, she wanted to get information about her adoption. Maggie found the whole process incredibly frustrating as she wasn’t able to obtain any significant information about her birth mother, other than she had brown hair and came from Meath, so she gave up looking for a while.
In 2012, Maggie became seriously ill and was given five possible diagnoses’, three of which were cancer. This time, when she went back to the agency, she didn’t just want medical information, she had to have it. Eventually, she was told her natural mother had been treated for breast cancer and was diabetic. Maggie was furious that this information could have been supplied to her but unfortunately her natural mother still refused to engage with the social worker, let alone meet. However, one day, the social worker told Maggie she had a brother who had been born before her.
Paul and Maggie met for the first time in 2013 and recognised each other immediately. Paul says: “It was like looking at myself in drag!”
After meeting each other, Paul and Maggie now both wanted to meet their birth mother so their social worker arranged a meeting which finally gave the pair closure and some of the answers they had been longing for.
The fifth episode of ‘Adoption Stories’ airs tomorrow (Thursday 9th July) at 8.30pm on TV3.
Clip 1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZ8OewINgJk
Maggie became seriously ill and didn’t just want medical information, she had to have it. Eventually, she was told her natural mother had been treated for breast cancer and was diabetic. Maggie was furious that this information could have been supplied to her but wasn’t until now.
Clip 2 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_6mDCqTeZY
Paul was on his way to a wedding when he got a call from the HSE. A social worker rang to tell him he had been matched with a sibling. He couldn’t believe it.