LLF S01E02

for thousands of people across Britain someone is missing from their lives isn't a day that goes by that I don't think of her the major mystery for me is who is he where is he and what he turn into I want to know does he want to be part of my life does he want to get to know his daughter but all too often years of searching lead nowhere well this is the series that steps in to help offering a last chance to people desperate to find long-lost family your son has been found Wow I want to see this picture for so long 25 years I can't feel my hearing in the news making that is your sister that she's beautiful our searchers have uncovered family secrets I take this all over the world finding people that no one else has been able to trace the two walks in a park two different families yeah one incredible story she has got a wills face oh she definitely got the wheels eyes and finally answering the questions that have haunted entire lives I don't know if you could understand what that means this time a soldier urgently searching for the truth about the father he's never known everything I've heard about him is bad in my soul I just can't feel that he's good that's it I look at it and a mother desperate to find the son she gave up for adoption to save her marriage I want to know he's been happy I I so want to know that he's had a good life and I want to ask him not to hate me our first story brings us to not Hampshire and a soldier's quest to finally make sense of who he is thirty two-year-old Wayne Rogers has just applied for second tour of duty with the British Army in just a few months time he could be posted to Afghanistan it's what I'm all about it says so I am no here's where I call my life outside growing up Wayne always felt different from the rest of his family especially his dad now my dad was never into the outdoorsy things he never really showed that much interest in he wanted to climb up whatever I could do wanted to buy tried to from hate to be as fast as I could do I love him and I'll always honor him but there was always that feeling of it's not there then when he was 15 an uncle let slip a secret that made sense of all Wayne's feelings now it was my uncle and I study him about who I was and how I was and he just to run he says she's just like your dad no I'm not yeah you are I'm not yeah you want you real done when I found out it made me feel there's a whole aside me but I was also relieved by the knowledge that that's why sometimes I feel angry sometimes I feel just Who am I alway knows about his background is that 31 years ago in the Nottingham ship hit village of Newsted his mother Diane started going out with a local lad Shawn Freeman they were both just teenagers and from what Wayne's been told Shawn and his family had a reputation in the village now I've supposed to family members and I said well you know he's doing a bit of rogue what out and his family whereas also shortly after Sean and Wayne's mother started seeing each other she became pregnant back in the 70s news of any teenage pregnancy would have been scandalous in a tight-knit Pitt village like new stood my woman generally doesn't talk about this very much in which I can understand I died don't ask very much um I know it hurts but uh I I still have a need to know amid all the rumors about his father the only thing Wayne has established is that after a brief spell down the pit his father left new stood 30 years ago and hasn't been seen since it wasn't a year after I was born that he disappeared so I mean the major mystery for me is who is he where is he and what he turned into now Wayne is settled with partner cares and his step kid Stephen entire he wants answers about his own identity 50 percent of my personality and my heritage I don't got a clue where it comes from I do have a short temper and the levels of aggression that I'm quite scary sometimes to myself my stubbornness monumentally stubborn but I didn't come from my mom where is it come from wayna spent the last 17 years searching for his father wouldn't know success and now on the verge of a possible call-up to Afghanistan Wayne's desperate for answers if he gets to meet his dad I think we will really be able to lay a few things to rest he just wants to know you know your DNA cannot be changed I think he just wants to know what Shawn's like there are obviously two sides to every person everything I've heard about him is bad deep down inside was he actually a good guy or not in my soul I just can't feel that he's good that's it I look at him when we took up Wayne search we always knew it was going to be tough we had so little to go on and Wayne wasn't even sure the correct spelling of his father's name but we were up against the clock with a call-up to Afghanistan looming Wayne needed answers quickly Nicky takes up the search the only information Wayne could give us about his biological father Shawn Freeman was that he came from a big family and he had five brothers at the Freeman's Ryan a fish and chip shop in Newsted Wood after Shawn left a time pretty soon after that so did the rest of the family Wayne didn't have a clue where they're gone but he knew the names of some of the brothers so we started searching electoral rolls and birth marriage and death indexes for any traces of the family but there were thousands of Freeman's in the UK with the same names as Shawn's brothers then we decided to narrow the search to Nottingham sure thinking that at least some members of the family might have stayed in the area it was then that we hit upon an address for Harold and Thelma Freeman a check of the birth registry confirmed they had six sons including one called Sean we have found Sean's mum and dad it was our first significant breakthrough we contacted Sean's parents if anyone knew where Sean was it had to be them but we didn't get the answer we were expecting they hadn't seen Sean for over four years and then out of the blue we got a phone call it was Sean you'd heard about our inquiries through the grapevine and amazingly he was living in Nottingham and he agreed to meet me to find out about way Shawn told us that he had spent most of his life living and working abroad but that he was now back in the UK I just don't know what to expect of Shawn I mean the picture that Wayne's been given of him isn't entirely brilliant but who knows what the truth is the most important thing how will Shawn feel about the fact that Wayne has traced him and what he want to meet him since returning to Nottingham Shawn's been employed as a care worker for autistic adults you agreed to meet me in his local pub Shawn hi how are you thank you good to see you how you feeling knows so when you find out that way and your son was looking for you how did you immediately react a bit of relief a bit of something that you might it's something that's been there all your life one for me for 32 years something's always been there finally maybe put to rest did you think about him over the years you know you wouldn't have been a week that had gone by without me thinking about and so yeah in my mind yeah yeah he's always always there so he's look for why didn't you look for him I don't think I could imagine knocking on his door this chap come into to the door me saying well I'm Shawn Freeman you know where's my son what right have I want to have any association as a father I've not been around I've never taken care of him the only Association of God as a father was a deed and act that that passed all those years ago so looking about all those years ago take us through what happened for me it was my first childhood sweetheart must be really scary at the time terrifying especially in those days for her it must have been very very difficult as well I mean mother she was she came around to my parents house to announce the situation and that was she was quite a fiery lady let's put it that way let's get the death help me but from that point on I was never allowed to have anything to do with Diane whatsoever not allowed to speak talk in a village was very very difficult you know I was already being told to block it out to forget about it even before the baby was born have you ever seen him I saw him went before he was six months old once and he was in the push jail in the streets and used to village I saw him for about two minutes the fact had not been LCE own child even at a very young age it hurts it really really hurts you try I tried not to share it because I was told not to I was told he didn't matter as told all the things of it it does Marquis you want to see a photograph of him if you've gone mmm I'd like to see a photograph or something my god he looks so much like my brother absolutely incredible he looks a bit like me as well at me yeah hmm well join us see a picture of him in his work clothes go on by gum it's in his blood as well is I mean thinking or my not all my family but my ancestor my heritage had been end up in the Army the bald and a lot of service he was one of the roads I think the Freeman's have gone down world it mate he's a good lad II need gets their doing he 6-4 6-4 I'm 62 so you want to meet him yeah course I do yeah definitely definitely it's a way to wait yes before we tell Wayne the amazing news that we've found his father and that he wants to meet him we begin our second story in the West Country with a woman who's desperate to find the son she last saw when he was a three-month-old baby nurse Debbie EADS lives with her husband Brian in the Somerset village of Westbury sub mended so nice handsome dog listen Oh despite being happy married Debbie is haunted by the decision she made 26 years ago to have her baby adopted I never had a day in my life that they haven't thought about him and to me he's always been my son and always will be for Debbie life hasn't always been as settled as it is now 27 years ago she was a teenage mom married to her first husband Paul with a young son Daniel we'd both got married young there were lots of problems I was very insecure I was all over the place anyway after a couple of years of marriage they're being pool separated soon afterwards Debbie started seeing someone else this guy came into the bar where I was working who was tall good-looking he had all the right things to say he was the only sort black guy that ever came into the pub which made him sort of even more mysterious and interest and fell for him hook line and sinker within weeks Debbie discovered she was pregnant I was so scared I knew it was going to be difficult to tell the father I just didn't want to know he didn't care he just said to me you know you get rid of it it was just complete inconvenience to him I never seen him again until I was very very heavily pregnant and then he seen me and crossed over the road never seen or heard from him again but at the back of her mind Debbie wasn't completely sure that this man was the father was always that little chance that you know maybe it was Paul's baby this was a hope Debbie and Paul clung to as they agreed to give their marriage another go he knew all along you know that there was a really huge chance that the baby wasn't his and we discussed once the baby was born if it wasn't posed we would look at adoption the last time Debbie came to Dorchester was to give birth 26 years ago going through a pregnancy and knowing that you've got a chance it could be all okay or a chance it would turn eight I wouldn't be able to keep my baby a horrible feeling to be honest with you 26 years ago Debbie EADS was facing a terrible decision she was about to give birth to a baby unsure if the father was her husband or the man with whom she'd had a brief affair she and husband Paul had agreed that she would only keep the baby if it turned out to be his after a difficult labor Debbie gave birth to a healthy baby boy she called him David the pediatrician checked him over and he then said you do realize this baby that's his words you do realize this Davies mixed-race that's when it just all fell apart Paul the time was just like Mike okay just take Mike I couldn't stop crying I just couldn't stop crying and I remember just crying and crying Debbie eventually managed to persuade Paul to bring David home to see if they could make it work as a family I'd begged him to give it a go and Paul I couldn't have tried any harder and I remember one day he was in the bedroom and he changed him and every hand and got ready for bed and I went in and smiled and I said he's lovely isn't any cities a gorgeous little nerd he really is but he's not mine and Mike on Debbie then had to make the most difficult decision of her life and put David up for adoption if I had have kept David I would have been a single mum with Daniel and David in a small time where there had been some real prejudice going on and I don't think I was strong enough or mature enough to give him the love and support he would have need it as well all that we could do is make sure David went to a family that would know and understand what he would face in life working alongside social services she eventually found an American couple Donna and Jerry sledge who are living in the UK they promised me that they would love him look after him and and I believe them I you know that because they were soon just so lovely Debbie gave Donna and Jerry a letter to give to her son when he was old enough saying that she would always be there if he ever wanted to find her I just hope that he understands how much I loved him and loved him and will always love him and I hope in some way that letter conveyed that that he never did anything you know to deserve this I want to know that he's been happy I so want to know that he's had a good life and I want to ask him not to hate me to give me a chance to explain there be always pinned her hopes on her son responding to her letter but she still hasn't heard anything her worst fears are either he wasn't given the letter or he wants nothing to do with her despite her fears debbie has spent almost a decade searching for her son with no success but a lot can happen in 26 years Debbie herself split up from husband Paul and has since remarried and changed her name and it wasn't just the amount of time that had passed that made this case particularly tough not only is it very difficult for a birth parent to search for an adopted person but David's new parents weren't even from the UK Gerry sledge worked for the US Air Force which man he could be back in the USA or literally anywhere in the world the only way for us to help Debbie was by working with a specialist intermediary legally entitled to search for adopted people if Debbie's son was found the intermediary would be his permission before passing on his details to us and then after three months we got the news we've been hoping for Debbie's son had been traced he was living in the u.s. just outside Phoenix Arizona it was now called Johnathan sledge not a day goes by when Debbie doesn't think about Jonathan but what about him he's only 26 years old is he ready for all this stuff is he angry with her for giving him up for adoption why hasn't he responded to the letter she wrote all those years ago and will he want to meet her second system here it's been 26 years since Debbie gave Jonathan up for adoption he's now married with a family of his own and works as an electronic engineer Jonathan I Vikki nice to meet you you too really nice to meet you who's this this is Jordan and Rachel well thank you very much for having me in your home thank you for coming what did your mom and dad tell you about being adopted oh my mom what she's told me about my birth mom is that she wanted to keep me and wanted to love me and and then that's the letter from her can I read it yeah and this is when she was comfortable completely heartbroken about giving you up I think this is the hardest letter I've ever written I feel I must tell you how much David means to me I know I can never forget him I didn't read the entire I was there like 14 or 15 what would you like the first time you read it um it took me hours cuz I just was wanted to read every detail of it was like the only thing I had to it from my birth mom so it's the only thing I could know of her you thought about it a lot when you're growing up yeah I thought about it just thinking what she's like what she's doing you always imagined some big reunion but in reality you don't know what its gonna be like how was it when you find out that your birth mother was looking for you that she's looking for me makes it like she cares she must want to know about me not just gave me up and that was it she's thought about you every single day of her life it's made me a lot happier just to know that every feeling I've had looking for hers it's been mutual been searching I've been looking on and off for 10 years now she was worried that you might not want to me huh I've never had that feeling here I don't have any angry I thought at times maybe she wouldn't want to meet me so you don't know what husband should get out now or what family if I'm just a secret maybe you never been a secret he's always been very open about the fact that you're out there so all this time she thought he doesn't want to know me you thought she doesn't want to know me you've been searching for each other yeah it's just sad really that all this times gone by well this is your birth mother it's good to see her for finally huh it's so much at once set up 26 years of nothing and all this at once meeting her so it's a it's a big thing you want to yeah I just want to know what was what could have been what can be later that evening Jonathan goes to see his adoptive mother Donna she's no longer with Gerry as they divorced a number of years ago hi how's your day go what is fee for Donna this is a special moment she's been helping Jonathan in his 10-year search for Debbie sister Sofia is equally excited I don't know how you were Jonathan but I think this is really exciting for her to have found you I think I've waited your entire life for this day because I I wanted to fulfill my promise to your birth mother she gave me she gave me a beautiful son I mean her most precious and so that the next step will be now to check our passports after a complex search of public records and electoral rolls we eventually tracked down Wayne Rogers father Sean Freeman to Nottingham for most of Wayne's life Sean has been living abroad and only returned to the UK a couple of years ago I'm now on my way to Wayne's house to tell him the good news this quest for Wayne has always been about so much more than just finding his biological father finding Sean it is about finding out who he is and about finding his identity as a man wait oh you mine I'm Davina pleasure to meet you Corning thank you even looking for Sean Freeman for a while and needing information about him and I know that you are aware that he moved around a bit I'm he was a bit of a drifter and it made our search very difficult but I'm here because I've got some news we have found your father well is he well he is would you like to see a picture yes ready I'm ready what do you think some way just like looking in a mirror isn't very similar mm-hmm some parts of me are saying why haven't you looked hmm you know my life maybe been that in itself does to some degree say to me well what kind of man is he then if it knows I'm alive but he still hasn't looked he was also worried about how much you knew about whether wandering into your life would mean a mess you up whether he was a mystery and whether you'd been lied I mean he just he had no idea but you've always been in his thoughts she tends hmm obviously we found him so he knows that you've been looking and he did write you a letter right would you like to read it yes please dear Wayne I would just like to say that I think you are very brave for going this far to find me I'm sure that there are loads of questions that both of us will benefit greatly from the answers you have always been part of my life and now it seems we'll be able to tell people something about our lives I'm looking forward to our meeting and hope both of us can put to rest a certain things that may have been missing up until now well thank you a game wing for creating this chance take care Sean that's how expulsion I've never known Aires Folger there's a few ways to spy that's what was it I thought it was lovely the way that he'd said about your courage looking for him and how proud he was yeah to be very honest all the stories I've heard they haven't painted him always family in a very good light but looking at this and reading this I believe is a bad person it's so good to see him healthy and alive and happy I can feel a change already any yeah they all smiled more now in the past ten minutes oh I smiled at a month he'd love to meet up with you right Richard so bill teamocil Wow father hey guys that's my father you look alive feel so much better good good lastly don't the last hmm see you soon I'll see you soon it was amazing when he looked at the photograph he started smiling more he relaxed it was like a different man and I just I pray that the reunion does for Wayne what he's been seeking all these years and that is not just find his father but also help him find himself the day has come for Wayne to be reunited with the father he's never known for everyday looking forward to it quite nervous nervous a good hey are you ready Oh already what's been the biggest joy for you finding your father right there you just said it finding my father findings aren't finding here the finding that he was alive twenty years ago Nikki went through something similar when he met his birth mother for the first time Sean good morning how are you I and news10 village please when I was going through this as a little party thinks I'm gonna like it I'm gonna run away because I want to get rid of this nervous feeling and I'm determined the whole thing you know you won't but is it fear I don't know if it's fearless as I say it's an emotion that I can't describe because it's one I've never felt before it's anticipation yeah so when you're looking ahead what are you hoping for what what's gonna come out of it it's about I don't want anything I just want you know I just want to feel alright I want things to be right I want him to be happy I want you know I want the missing parts to be put together and go on really Wayne and Shawn will meet on the hill overlooking Newsted the mining village where Shawn grew up and Wayne was born I'm kind of slowly ran out of words now don't need to speak I spotted a beautiful spot you ready I think so ready as I'm ever gonna be after all this time this matter are you ready as ready as I'll ever be no it's just up there as a bench and if you walk through that gap you can see your dad good luck wine thank you ha ha ha ha see see what me take it up this has been a long road I'm alright yeah we're doing a sedan Oh cost couple of weeks husband yeah you know bottom line ready yeah I said have you been thinking about its movement first for months and months of ups and all this time when I finally get to meet you and nothing's coming out it's still not gonna happen I've had you for 13 years I don't want to do don't say don't know I do it's beautiful thank you cuz if you want for you you wanna sleep me no no so Isis me I'm gonna sort of it okay so happen you know I've got that yeah he's a fantastic man but I can no longer now say I've never met my real father because he sat right foot me yeah yeah daddy yeah I was walking up the hill I think every step took a year off me and I was going for it you know and the that the spring in my step was was returning and I was just yeah felt like I was five and it was Christmas you know I was going in there I had a massive massive present to it it's an amazing feeling you know it shows you blood is thicker than water definitely you know the blood ties it's incredible in the way talks and everything else it's just fantastic fantastic oh you know I can feel proud I know who he is and know what is doing is a great bloke you know I don't do if you could understand what that means it's fantastic for Justin yeah you look I mean oh yeah when I finally met him and I shook his hand I looked into his face I looked into his eyes and I saw but it's this money front to me he's he's he's a good guy after 32 years Wayne now has an opportunity to build a relationship with the father he has never known in our second story Debbie is looking for a similar chance with the son she gave up for adoption 26 years ago I've arranged a meeting so I can tell her he's been found I know the story starts when you were very young yes I was 20 when I had flavored was important to you to find the right place for him it wasn't absolutely i sat a long time with the social worker and she did come up with Donna and Jerry what was your connection light with Donna it sounds silly to say but at that point it seemed like she was a friend she didn't seem to judge me she said she'd never forget you know that I'd given her this chance to have another child well I'm here to give you some news as you know I mean it is very difficult for a parent to seek out a child that's been adopted but your son has been found really and he's really well and he is living in America it's called Jonathan nothing looked after while they looked after him or anything now really really well would you like to see some pictures before I show you before I show you you want to let you know something really important that he's not angry with you really yeah he's not angry with you okay no he doesn't hate you oh absolutely I've been quite an enormous thing for him this yeah but in particular because he's been looking for you you took yeah don't think he'll really believe it until he meets you and he sees you in the flesh do you think he would well I think he'd love to meet you if you'd like to meet him my god I've got one more thing I'd like to share with you and that is he has written you a letter mother I've been trying to write this letter for days my whole life I have imagined what you would like and what you were doing I have also I've always wondered if you thought about me as I thought about you when I was fifteen I read the letter that you wrote since then I've been looking for you with not much success I have always been afraid of finding you and you're not wanting to know me I am excited to meet you and to find out where I come from thank you for finding me baby now I can feel the same here 26 years ago Debbie EADS made the most agonizing decision of her life when she gave up her mixed-race baby for adoption she's been searching for almost a decade with no but now he's been found in Arizona in the u.s. today they will meet for the first time it is majorly important to her today I mean when she kept jonathan up 26 years ago her she always wanted to get back in contact with it and she's been looking since he was 18 years old I've carried this love for years um ever since he was born and I just worry about how he's going to feel about today debbie has arranged to meet Jonathan in Dorchester his birthplace and his whole family have flown in from America for the occasion he is such a nervous wreck I mean he may say and he may look like he's he's together and calm but he's not he's just shaking inside I just know that his stomach is just tore up just trying to think about what I'm gonna say and I never figured it out but at the same time um just waiting for it to happen and just let it go like about what happens happen enjoy kudos I would say journey by burn are you doing good yeah yeah feeling good yeah nervous no that's a nice big day let's go the park where Debbie wants to meet is just a stone's throw from the hospital where Jonathan was born we thought about what you gonna say no I've tried to what happens having mr. I'm gonna leave you right I know it's gonna be fantastic it's gonna be brilliant you see that um path done that to the left of the railings yes Debbie's waiting for you down there thank you good luck yeah you don't have much I wanted to just touch him like a mother would and just hold him and he totally felt like he was mine he was my son I was like hoping for the best that she would be welcoming but cuz I just didn't know what to expect like I didn't know what to go into it but then it was all just so emotional so it was great I've carried so much cue so many years and to to suddenly know that you don't have to feel like a people some you what right am i want to to have any association as a form

Channel: Megan

Views: 322,923

Rating: 4.7074871 out of 5

Keywords: long lost family, llf, season 1 episode 2, S01E02, long lost family S01E02, LLF S01E02, LLFS01E02, long lost family season 1 episode 2

Id: _1jREbXzP5E

Length: 45min 14sec (2714 seconds)

Published: Thu Aug 25 2016