Daughters to carry on search for mother’s true identity

Louise Walsh

The daughters of an adoptee who died before knowing her true identity have carried on her life-long search to discover that their mum was abandoned outside an English hospital as a baby just days old.

Ann (Tina) McClaughry (nee Vousden) died thinking that she had found her real birth certificate and even changed her name by deed poll but it was only after her death- when her daughters went to inscribe her headstone - that they unravelled the real truth behind their cherished mum's heritage

Now the girls, who live in Meath are appealing for help in tracing a woman who contacted the family some years ago, claiming to be their long-lost aunt.

Linda Buckley, Christine Keane and Claire Rafferty sadly buried their mum in 2014 and dad Neville just 17 months later but the finer details of their resting place led to a year long search for the truth.

"Mum was born in 1939 and only found out by accident that she was adopted when a stranger stopped her in the street in Orpington in Kent, where she grew up, and told her but her adopted parents never told her who she really was. That was just the way back then," said Linda.

"Mum always felt growing up that she never fitted in and she strived to find out her real name because she felt it was the only thing that her mother gave her with love.

"I suppose it's those things we all take for granted - but she wanted to know who she looked like and what her birth story was.

"She trained to be a nurse and as she was fluent in sign language, she worked with a social worker interpreting for the deaf. She met dad on a visit to Ireland, had us and settled in Navan.

"She was the most amazing mother and a very happy and loving woman, who everyone knew for her voluntary efforts with a rescue dog shelter.

"But she still wanted answers and a search led to a birth certificate for the only girl born in her area on her birthday - 31st May. She traced who she thought was her mother who at first denied her saying her daughter had died and then, for some reason accepted her.

"She had all her documents changed from Christine (Tina) to Ann, the name on the birth certificate.

"We kind of thought something was wrong but she was so happy, we didn't want to break her heart."

"After she died, we decided to try and find out the truth for her. I found the birth certificate registered for Ann Vousden and I also found her death certificate for her at ten days old. I think mum wanted to believe she was her so much, she never checked for a death certificate. After a gruelling search for over a year with various Government bodies both in Ireland and the UK, the sisters finally found their mum's birth certificate

"We found out that our mum's name was Christine E Barnes, born on 31st May, 1939. It was the name given to her by the courts after she was found wrapped in a blanket, abandoned in a garden across from a hospital in Gillingham in Kent. Her birthday was given because medics thought she was a few days old."

However, the girls now believe there may have been an Irish connection after a phone call some years ago.

"I was about 14 years old and answered a call from a woman who told me she thought she was mum's real sister. My mam met up a few times but then it all stopped.

"It wasn't uncommon back then for a pregnant Irish girl to be shipped to England to have a baby and we think there could be a connection. Ironically this lady lived outside Navan and we are appealing to her to get in touch in order for us to put the missing pieces of the jigsaw together and finally find out for our mum, who she really was."

Pictured on main pic: Sisters Linda Buckley, Christine Keane and Claire Rafferty.

PHOTO: Seamus Farrelly