A truly uplifting story

Adoption week may have just finished but it encouraged one Welshpool woman to share her moving experience with mywelshpool.

Glenys Broxton (right) was 11 when she accidentally discovered that she was adopted; here, the 58 year-old mother of six tells her inspirational life story which she hopes will raise awareness about the issue.

It is truly heartwarming…

 

“I was adopted from a mother and baby home in Wolverhampton in 1952 and was brought to live in Marton, a village just over the hill from Welshpool. I moved to Welshpool in 1972 where I have lived ever since.

I found out I was adopted when I was 11 years (below left) old by accident. As children do, I was rooting in my mum’s private things and found the paperwork. This was on my mind ever since that day.

About 20 years ago I told my adopted mum I was putting my name on the contact register but sadly nothing ever came of it. When the law changed and information was more accessible, I started searching on a site called Genes Reunited where you can search through Births, Deaths, Marriages and Census. You can also purchase these certificates.

I trawled through records non-stop for months on end. All I had was my mum’s name and my original birth certificate. I got to a stage where I couldn't go any further and it was getting costly so I built my family tree as best as I could with the information I had and left it on the site. I did not revisit the site for a couple of years.

It was still nagging away at me though so I contacted a government agency which is free called After Adoption. They tried to get information for 12 months but to no avail, then five weeks ago they found my birth file and brought it for me. They said they would start a people search the following week.

On the Saturday morning I got a text from Genes Reunited telling me that someone wanted to view my family tree, so I went on to see what was going on and a young man was asking why his dad was in my family tree and could he take a look? This was a shock. Naturally I said he could. It was a nerve wracking wait until he came back and said that half of his family was on it. I could not believe it!

After that it just went mad. They all live in the Stafford area; sadly my birth mother passed away several years ago but I have now discovered that I have three sisters and a brother! I have been an only child all of my life so I am still pinching myself to make sure I am not dreaming!

They all seem really nice and over the moon to have found me which is great. They have been sending me photos and giving me all the information I have been searching for all these years. I have even spoken to one of them on the phone and I am now in regular contact through Facebook as some of the family are members. I have six children of my own who are all grown up and live in the Welshpool area and they are thrilled to bits for me as well.

I hope that this will encourage others. I am now looking forward to meeting my new family in person!”