The DNA test that showed two women had been swapped at birth

[SerendipityJane]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cp3njqd9nl9o

That's weird. All 3 of mine (18, 17, 15) were born at RHCH and none were given RFID tags.

I'm sure it did happen more frequently in the past in that period between the start of the NHS in the late 40s and tighter security.

I do think though that the whole thing has been handled badly by both sides. No mention at all of counsellors, or intermediaries acting as go-betweens.

On the flip side what if Claire's parents were multi millionaires, that would have been a different experience for Jessica

https://brenmoor.com/catalogue/infa125-rfid-childs-wristband/

These are the rfid bracelets - they are plastic bracelets not big tags.

To me, biology isn't what defines a parent-child bond. Even if there were doubts about my daughter being biologically mine, it wouldn’t change anything; she’s my daughter because I raised her, cared for her, and we’ve built a life together. I wouldn't feel the need to seek out a child I'm biologically related to—my focus and heart are with the daughter I've been there for. In my life, it's the relationship that truly matters, not a genetic connection.

my last baby (born 3 years ago) had a tracking device but this was apparently because of covid (mums were taking babies to Costa as no visitors in ward allowed) and it beeped when you left the ward. Didn’t have one for my previous children.

To me this is a contradiction in terms.

First you say "how can you not know your own baby" then you go on to say your stepfather/the father whom thought you were his that your mum put on the birth certificate did not know his own baby..

Dd2 changed hugely the first 12 hours. She was born blotchy puffed cheeks with slanted eyes black hair l. Within hours the puffiness had gone her eyes no longer looked slanted and her hair turned out to be light brown as the blood came off as we wiped her more.

She was a home birth so no chance of a swap. However if I had gone to sleep and got the non slanted eye baby back I would likely have trusted the people who told me this was my baby.

Not all babies look the same a few hours after birth.

I agree. My DM is a challenging person and I didn’t have a nice childhood, I would be so happy to find a “new” DM who is lovely and kind

That’s very easy to say when you know your daughter is yours and you haven’t had a lifetime of perhaps a difficult relationship, genetics DO matter even if we think they don’t. It’s not the only thing, I have an adopted sibling I’m closer to than my biological one, but we can’t pretend family isn’t partly driven by genetics (in most cases)

I had a cousin who was given up for adoption by my Aunt. She didn't know she was adopted until she 30 and came to find my aunt and the rest of us. She looked like she belonged in our family. She had similar tastes, interests and values. She never felt she fit in her adoptive family. I think it was very hard on her adoptive mum and my aunt who had hoped that the baby had gone on to have a very happy life. Genetics means quite a bit.

Mine too 😂

@Lougle that is weird. She was born January 08, I had a great birth there but the aftercare was terrible.

Maybe I'm wrong (hopefully!) but the way "Joan" has no mixed feelings about getting "Clare" back, it is as if she doesn't feel the understanding for "Jessica's" situation that you would surely expect?

While Claire now calls her “Mum”, Joan tells me that Jessica no longer does. But Joan feels only that she has gained a daughter.

I know she says "Jessica" will always be her daughter but honestly if they had previously had a good relationship, would "Jessica" have stopped calling her "Mum"? I don't think so.

In "Claire's" case she is unambiguously delighted with her new and better family because her other family was a bit rubbish. If they had been close and loving, she would be less keen to dive into a new family. It feels as if "Joan" is also a bit keen on the daughter front.

As someone who was adopted, I absolutely agree with you. I don't feel genetics matter at all really when it comes to who is and isn't family. I also think that there's a lot of confirmation bias that goes on around the question of 'feeling different' etc.

A bit of a side note, the article mentioned that since the 1980s all newborns have been fitted with radio tracking devices. I've had two babies in hospital in the last 15 years, and they never had anything other than a plastic wrist band with my NHS number printed on and "Baby Surname" written in sharpie?

I thought this too. I had DS 2.5 years ago, he's just got a flimsy plastic wristband too, with his name and hospital number on it. A friend has just had a baby three weeks ago with the same. Coincidentally, the memory box is currently out - there's nowhere for a chip or tag to be inserted, it's just flat flimsy plastic.

Look at the pictures upthread. You wouldn’t know it was there.

This is a sad story really there are no "winners" here , Clare has had an unhappy childhood .When she should have had a birth family, who would have been able to provide properly ,and given her a decent upbringing.Jessica s left with the knowledge that her Mother and father are dead,she has a new mum who is getting older ,and they have missed more than 50 years together !

My initial reaction was to feel sorry for Jessica however it sounds like Clare had a difficult childhood and Jessica benefitted from a loving, stable family. So perhaps sympathy should be extended all round. Everyone has paid the price for the hospitals incompetence.

Two 55 year old women, swapped at birth and both grow up in each others birth families.

One with stability and privilege and the other in abject poverty and chaos..

Yet we feel sorry for Jessica (mere speculation that she has been pushed out rather than thrown toys out of pram) over Claire who sounds like a positive soul that has embraced her birth family.

As per on here, so much adding up 2 plus 2 and getting 13.

I only saw mine briefly before she was taken away as I needed to go to recovery and she went for screenings. So I can see how that can happen.

There’s a brilliant podcast called You Look Like Me featuring stories from the donor conceived community. It’s very enlightening from the pov of people born through donor conception.

What a brilliant documentary. Thank you for posting.

Mine had an ankle tag in the early 2000s. Like those ones they have for anti-theft purposes in shops. It looked massive on his teeny little ankle, had to keep it poked out of his little onesie!

What about poor Claire who grew up in extreme poverty and lived until 55 with no family support when Jessica was living the comfortable childhood that should have bern hers??

Honestly there's absolutely no way my child's hospital bracelet has any form of chip or anything in it. It's a thing but of plastic exactly the same as the bands you get when admitted into hospital. Additionally we walked out of the hospital with it and triggered no alarms so it obviously doesn't contain any alarm.