Unspoken: The Silent Truth Behind My Lifelong Trauma as a Forced Adoptee

Liz Harvie was told by her birth mother that she was adopted and grew up believing that her birth mother didn't want her. She reconnected with her birth mother years later and learned the shocking truth: a social worker had snatched her ten-day-old baby from her arms. Liz became one of 185,000 victims of forced adoption in England and Wales between 1949 and 1976.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 240 pages
Publication date: 09 November 2023
Publisher: Ad Lib Publishers Ltd

In 1974, Claire Elaine Watts, now known as Liz Harvie, was given up for adoption by her birth mother, Yvonne. Claire was just eight weeks old when her adoptive parents, who renamed her Elizabeth, took her in. Despite growing up in a seemingly perfect household, the emotional and physical trauma of being taken from her biological mother would never leave Liz. She constantly wondered what her real mum looked like, if she would come back for her, and why she had abandoned her. However, whenever Liz expressed these questions, she invariably received the same response: "Your birth parents were not married. They couldn't look after you."

Years later, at the age of twenty-eight, Liz reconnected with her birth mother and finally learned the shocking truth surrounding her adoption. Yvonne had not abandoned her daughter. Instead, a social worker had snatched her ten-day-old baby from her arms. "I didn't even get a final cuddle. She just took her away from me," recalls Yvonne.

Liz became one of the 185,000 victims of forced adoption between 1949 and 1976 in England and Wales. As a young unmarried mum, Yvonne was deemed unfit as a parent by the government, churches, adoption agencies, and even her own father. Despite her protests, she was made to give up her child against her will.

Although reunited, Liz and Yvonne are still struggling to cope with the agony resulting from their devastating separation. As Liz puts it, "We can't just skip hand in hand into the sunset. The trauma of being a forced adoptee is lifelong."

Weight: 192g
Dimension: 129 x 197 x 16 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781837700462