An abandoned woman in Hong Kong before being adopted by a British couple has admitted she just wants to find relatives who ‘look and feel like her’ in one of the investigations longest ever by the Lost Family.
Claire Martin, 60, was nearly two years old when she arrived at Heathrow Airport from a congested orphan Hong Kong in December 1960 after being adopted by a couple in Liverpool.
But despite the happy adoption, Claire had difficulty integrating into the predominantly white community, recalling: ‘As soon as I went to school it was very obvious. that I was different from the others. ‘
The mother-in-law has been abandoned on a flight of stairs and with scarce records and no information about her birth family, co-presenter Nicky Campbell admits to the Long Lost Family tonight that Claire’s study wants to family has been ‘one of the hardest’.
But Claire refuses to give up, explaining: ‘I have to hope … Even if I can’t find my birth parents, I’ll be happy to find any birth family. I just want to meet someone who is like me, who is like me, thinks like me, laughs like me. ‘
Thanks to a DNA test, Claire finally finds distant blood relatives – including a woman she was already friends with Joanna Battershell.
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Claire Martin (pictured), 60, was nearly two years old when she arrived at Heathrow Airport from a dense Hong Kong orphanage in December 1960 after being adopted by a couple in Liverpool
But despite the happy adoption, Claire (pictured after arriving at Heathrow Airport in 1960) had difficulty integrating into the predominantly white community, she recalls. : ‘As soon as I went to school it was very obvious that I was different from everyone else. ‘
Claire was nearly two years old when she was deported to Britain from Hong Kong’s dense orphanages.
Her adoption was organized through an international scheme, which sent around 100 children to the UK in the 1960s for adoption by British couples.
Looking back she says: ‘All I know for sure is that I arrived at Heathrow airport on December 20, 1962. At the airport everyone is leaving to their destinations or coming back, but for me it’s different, this is the beginning of My life. ‘
Claire grew up near Liverpool and had a happy adoption but found it difficult to get into the predominantly white community.
She recalled: ‘As soon as I went to school it was very clear that I was different from everyone else. I remember when I was about six or seven, I prayed to be white… but I woke up and I was still Chinese. ‘
At the age of twelve, Claire’s adoptive mother died and she had to find out about her strengthened birth family. Now married to her own daughter, she still wants answers: ‘It’ s a big gap to know who you are… it’s very difficult to live without roots. ‘
The man’s mother has been abandoned on a flight of stairs and with few records and no information about her birth family, co-presenter Nicky Campbell (pictured) admits to the Long Lost Family tonight that Claire’s find for her family to be ‘one of the most difficult’ ‘
Co-presenter Nicky admits to Claire that the search for her birth parents has been difficult for the Long Lost Family team.
He says: ‘This is one of the hardest investigations ever to come our way. I know our research team felt it was impossible in the UK to find anything more about your mother and it was the only way for you to be out on the ground in Hong Kong where it began. ‘
Desiring to stay positive, Claire responds: ‘I have to hope to find someone who lives there, someone who remembers something. Even if I can’t find my birth parents, I’ll be happy to find any birth family.
‘I just want to meet someone who is like me, who is like me, thinks like me, laughs like me. I have no such person. And now is the time to do it. If I don’t do it now, anyone with memories 58 years ago.
‘If I had my mother when she was very young, it is possible that she is still alive. But it’s almost 60 years ago, so we’re asking someone very old to remember something that would solve it all. ‘
But Claire (pictured with co-presenter Davina McCall) refuses to give up, explaining: ‘I have to hope … Even if I can’t find my parents to give birth, I am happy to find any birth family. I just want to meet someone who is like me, who is like me, thinks like me, laughs like me. ‘
She said: ‘Of course I would like to find my parents but I would be happy to find any birth family as it would give me a sense of belonging, which I didn’t have.’
With only her birth certificate and no information about her birth family there is a limit to what Claire can get out of the UK. So she is sent to Hong Kong to try to find out more.
She emotionally visits the abandoned stairway, saying: ‘I really get the idea [my birth mother] for me to survive because she left me… perhaps the most comfortable place she would find to leave me.
‘People often ask me if I can forgive my mother for leaving me, but I think she was in such a desperate and desperate situation that she had no choice.’
Claire will be launching an appeal across the Hong Kong media in the hope that someone will come forward with information and follow her birth certificate to Po Leung Kuk, one of the city’s orphans.
She meets an investor who shows Claire a picture of the matron who signed her birth record but sadly there is no evidence left of Claire’s time at the orphanage.
Eventually, she gets a response to her claim, with David Chor coming forward and explaining that his family was working in the building where Claire was found.
Thanks to a DNA test, Claire (pictured during the show at Heathrow Airport) found distant blood relatives – including a woman she was already friends with Joanna Battershell
David was about ten years old at the time and remembers his mother calling the police. She’s so excited that I found a connection to the past. I have met someone [who saw] mi… in 1960. After all the emotions I have been through, I have finally had good news! ‘
In addition to the appeal, Claire conducts DNA tests, which are added to several online databases. Unfortunately, the games closest to her are too remote for her birth parents to find.
However, there are several distant blood relatives, many of whom are based in the UK and surprisingly one of them, Joanna Battershell, is already a good friend of Claire.
Claire and Joanna met eight years ago when they found out they had entered Heathrow on the same flight until they were accepted.
Speaking of being related, Claire says: ‘It’s just unbelievable! We have always said that we are sisters in spirit.
‘It’s amazing that I went all the way to Hong Kong looking for relatives and, eventually, I found them in the UK… I feel like I have a family now, I didn’t have to -ever and it’s a big family. ‘
The Long Lost Family will be heard at 9pm on ITV tonight