0:00:02 > 0:00:04Families can be driven apart for all manner of reasons.
0:00:04 > 0:00:07I had no information at all about where my mum went.
0:00:07 > 0:00:10And when you do lose touch with your loved ones...
0:00:10 > 0:00:12You don't know who you are, where have you come from.
0:00:12 > 0:00:15..finding them can take a lifetime.
0:00:15 > 0:00:18I might have a brother still living here.
0:00:18 > 0:00:22Especially when they could be anywhere, at home or abroad.
0:00:23 > 0:00:26And that's where the family finders come in.
0:00:26 > 0:00:28From international organisations...
0:00:28 > 0:00:32Hi, it's the Salvation Army Family Tracing Service...
0:00:32 > 0:00:36- ..to genealogy detective agencies... - For someone to say that it's
0:00:36 > 0:00:39changed their life, it makes coming to work, you know, really,
0:00:39 > 0:00:40really special.
0:00:40 > 0:00:42..and dedicated one-man bands.
0:00:42 > 0:00:46It's a matter of how much effort you really want to put into it,
0:00:46 > 0:00:48how badly you want to solve the problem.
0:00:48 > 0:00:52They hunt through history to bring families back together again.
0:00:52 > 0:00:55Finding new family is wonderful.
0:00:55 > 0:00:59In this series, we follow the work of the family finders...
0:00:59 > 0:01:05Suddenly you get one spark of breakthrough, and there they are!
0:01:05 > 0:01:07..learning the tricks they use to track
0:01:07 > 0:01:09missing relatives through time.
0:01:09 > 0:01:13I didn't think I'd ever find sisters, but I have.
0:01:13 > 0:01:17And meeting the people whose lives they changed along the way.
0:01:17 > 0:01:20I've been waiting to meet John my whole life.
0:01:20 > 0:01:22Since we've met, I feel part of a family again.
0:01:23 > 0:01:26You've just completed my life for me.
0:01:33 > 0:01:37Tracing long-lost family members is never an easy task.
0:01:37 > 0:01:40But some searches are more complicated than others.
0:01:40 > 0:01:45It can take years of hard work to unravel a family mystery.
0:01:45 > 0:01:47Some may never be solved successfully.
0:01:47 > 0:01:51And some may need the help of a professional family finding company.
0:01:52 > 0:01:55Today, we follow twins Michael and Janet
0:01:55 > 0:01:59and their story of a family secret kept hidden for over 60 years.
0:02:01 > 0:02:03And looking for these bills to pay,
0:02:03 > 0:02:06I came across a birth certificate and opened it up
0:02:06 > 0:02:10and read it a few times and fell to my knees, really.
0:02:10 > 0:02:12Just took me by surprise.
0:02:14 > 0:02:17And we meet Basharat, whose search for his mother's missing
0:02:17 > 0:02:22family uncovers a web of connections stretching across two continents.
0:02:22 > 0:02:27This became another shock for myself, as I felt the searches
0:02:27 > 0:02:31that we had done were completed, and there wasn't any of the siblings.
0:02:35 > 0:02:41Twins Janet and Michael were born in 1944 in Merseyside.
0:02:41 > 0:02:45Mum became pregnant in early 1944.
0:02:45 > 0:02:49Mum went into Clatterbridge Hospital, and I was born,
0:02:49 > 0:02:52and then she said, "Hang on, Mrs Bedrock,
0:02:52 > 0:02:55"there's another one here." And that's the first she knew.
0:02:56 > 0:02:57It was a good childhood.
0:02:57 > 0:03:00We didn't have an awful lot, but Mum worked all her life.
0:03:01 > 0:03:05- We had happy times.- Yeah. - Good times.
0:03:05 > 0:03:07There was always something on the table.
0:03:07 > 0:03:10Always something. She looked after us.
0:03:11 > 0:03:13Family life continued.
0:03:13 > 0:03:17The twins grew up, left home and started their own families.
0:03:17 > 0:03:21In fact, it wasn't until decades later that Michael and Janet
0:03:21 > 0:03:25had any idea their parents had been hiding a startling family secret.
0:03:27 > 0:03:32Mum had died in August 1999,
0:03:32 > 0:03:35and we looked after Dad for a year,
0:03:35 > 0:03:39and exactly a year later, August 2000,
0:03:39 > 0:03:43Dad took ill with pneumonia, and he was in hospital six weeks.
0:03:45 > 0:03:47As he was sort of getting better,
0:03:47 > 0:03:52he asked me to pay a couple of bills for him.
0:03:52 > 0:03:56And looking for these bills to pay, I came across a birth certificate
0:03:56 > 0:03:59and opened it up, read it a few times
0:03:59 > 0:04:01and fell to my knees, really.
0:04:01 > 0:04:03Just took me by surprise.
0:04:03 > 0:04:06It was the last thing I expected to find.
0:04:07 > 0:04:10Janet had discovered the birth certificate
0:04:10 > 0:04:12of a baby girl born to her mother
0:04:12 > 0:04:17in November 1943, a year before Janet and Michael were born.
0:04:17 > 0:04:21The certificate revealed they had an older sister called Linda.
0:04:22 > 0:04:26I rang Mike up straight away and I said, "Are you sitting down?"
0:04:26 > 0:04:27He said, "Yeah."
0:04:27 > 0:04:31And explained it to him and we just couldn't believe it, really.
0:04:31 > 0:04:32After their father died,
0:04:32 > 0:04:35Janet started talking to other family members.
0:04:35 > 0:04:38Janet and Michael knew that during the Second World War,
0:04:38 > 0:04:42their father, Leslie, had been sent to fight in North Africa,
0:04:42 > 0:04:44and their mum, Nellie, had joined the Wrens.
0:04:44 > 0:04:48But what now emerged was that while their parents were separated
0:04:48 > 0:04:52by the war, their mother, Nellie, met another man and became pregnant.
0:04:52 > 0:04:57Dad was away in the war and had been away for a year.
0:04:57 > 0:05:01My mum had just come home with the baby.
0:05:01 > 0:05:03All her brothers and sisters came to the house.
0:05:03 > 0:05:09My dad came home and thought they were having a party for him
0:05:09 > 0:05:13coming home from the war, and it was this baby.
0:05:13 > 0:05:17So you can imagine his feelings at being told there and then
0:05:17 > 0:05:20that this wasn't his baby.
0:05:20 > 0:05:27So he gave Mum the ultimatum that it was either him or the baby.
0:05:29 > 0:05:30Janet discovered it was a family
0:05:30 > 0:05:34aunt from Birmingham called Mrs Frost who came up with
0:05:34 > 0:05:38a solution. She knew a couple who had recently lost their own baby.
0:05:38 > 0:05:42Mrs Frost arranged for that couple to adopt baby Linda.
0:05:43 > 0:05:47Mum and Dad got back together within, well, three months.
0:05:47 > 0:05:52And exactly 9 months later, we were born.
0:05:53 > 0:05:56Then, over 60 years after that,
0:05:56 > 0:06:00Janet found her older half-sister's birth certificate.
0:06:00 > 0:06:03And while looking for more clues in her parents' photos
0:06:03 > 0:06:05in the hope of tracing her sister,
0:06:05 > 0:06:08Janet made an astonishing discovery.
0:06:08 > 0:06:11The one that stood out most was this one.
0:06:11 > 0:06:17On the reverse of it, it said, "To Mr and Mrs Frost from Brenda."
0:06:17 > 0:06:22And Mr and Mrs Frost were my great-aunt and uncle in Birmingham,
0:06:22 > 0:06:26so that really meant more to me than all the others.
0:06:26 > 0:06:31Janet believed the girl in the photo could be her missing sister,
0:06:31 > 0:06:35but despite this early breakthrough, Janet's search for Linda stalled.
0:06:35 > 0:06:38At that time, there was no way for her to trace
0:06:38 > 0:06:42an adopted sibling through official channels.
0:06:42 > 0:06:45Little did she know a change in the law was about to pave the way
0:06:45 > 0:06:47for an emotional reunion.
0:06:57 > 0:07:02Some family trees are so complex, tracing them can be daunting.
0:07:02 > 0:07:05In the case of Yasmin Najeeb, the story is so tangled,
0:07:05 > 0:07:07it took nearly a decade to unravel.
0:07:09 > 0:07:12Yasmin lives in Birmingham. She has eight children including her
0:07:12 > 0:07:16son Basharat. Yasmin was born in Norwich,
0:07:16 > 0:07:18but grew up in rural Pakistan.
0:07:24 > 0:07:28She went to Pakistan with her adopted father at the age of two.
0:07:28 > 0:07:32She spent about 14 years growing up in a village.
0:07:45 > 0:07:48Yasmin was brought up in Pakistan
0:07:48 > 0:07:51by her adoptive father, called Faisal Din.
0:07:51 > 0:07:54It seems he had married Yasmin's birth mother in England, returned to
0:07:54 > 0:07:59Pakistan with Yasmin, and brought her up as one of his own children.
0:07:59 > 0:08:02Yasmin never knew her English birth parents.
0:08:03 > 0:08:08My mother has no memories of her biological mother and father.
0:08:08 > 0:08:13She grew up and was seen like anybody else that was living there.
0:08:13 > 0:08:14She has no regrets about it at all.
0:08:14 > 0:08:17And for herself, it was a very happy time.
0:08:21 > 0:08:24Yasmin spent the next 14 years in Pakistan,
0:08:24 > 0:08:28before she married and returned to the UK with her new husband.
0:08:28 > 0:08:31And as her own family grew,
0:08:31 > 0:08:34so did her curiosity about her English mother.
0:08:34 > 0:08:40Mum has always wanted, just for one moment in her life,
0:08:40 > 0:08:42to be able to see...
0:08:43 > 0:08:45..her natural mother.
0:08:46 > 0:08:47SHE SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE
0:08:47 > 0:08:52And what she looked like, for her to embrace her,
0:08:52 > 0:08:55for her to talk to her, um,
0:08:55 > 0:09:00and for her mum's mum to acknowledge her.
0:09:01 > 0:09:05So in 2008, Basharat began the daunting task of trying to unravel
0:09:05 > 0:09:10the mystery of his mum's parentage and his own English heritage.
0:09:11 > 0:09:16It was a combination of passion and a combination of getting some
0:09:16 > 0:09:21kind of closure on where Mum has come from, her initial roots.
0:09:21 > 0:09:23And it was very, very important for all of us.
0:09:25 > 0:09:29Basharat's father had attempted his own searches in the '80s,
0:09:29 > 0:09:31but didn't get far.
0:09:31 > 0:09:33Basharat picked up the search with the paperwork his father had
0:09:33 > 0:09:36found relating to Yasmin's birth parents.
0:09:36 > 0:09:41I was given this marriage certificate which has
0:09:41 > 0:09:44my mum's parents' details on it.
0:09:44 > 0:09:48And the marriage certificate gave me Bertram John Crisp,
0:09:48 > 0:09:51my mum's father. And my mum's name
0:09:51 > 0:09:55on the marriage certificate is Ellen Amalie Bloss.
0:09:55 > 0:09:58Basharat began his search in the last known area
0:09:58 > 0:10:02his grandmother, Ellen, had lived in the east of England.
0:10:03 > 0:10:05I decided that I would travel to Norwich,
0:10:05 > 0:10:07to go to the Norfolk archives.
0:10:09 > 0:10:11Buried in the archives,
0:10:11 > 0:10:14Basharat discovered something completely unexpected.
0:10:14 > 0:10:18Baptism records of more children born to Yasmin's birth parents,
0:10:18 > 0:10:20Ellen and Bertram Crisp.
0:10:20 > 0:10:23They revealed Yasmin had older siblings.
0:10:24 > 0:10:30Looking at that documentation, my jaw dropped, thinking,
0:10:30 > 0:10:35"These are my mum's siblings." I had no knowledge of them.
0:10:35 > 0:10:39My mum had no knowledge of them. Nobody had any knowledge of them.
0:10:39 > 0:10:43And I decided, right, my search has expanded now.
0:10:43 > 0:10:46Not only was I looking for my mum's mum,
0:10:46 > 0:10:48I was also looking for my mum's siblings.
0:10:49 > 0:10:51With a new focus for his search,
0:10:51 > 0:10:53Basharat trawled through the records.
0:10:53 > 0:10:56His detective work paid off.
0:10:56 > 0:10:58He tracked down two of Yasmin's older siblings,
0:10:58 > 0:11:02including her sister, Marguerita.
0:11:02 > 0:11:05Here I am with contact numbers of my mum's sister
0:11:05 > 0:11:07and my mum's brother.
0:11:07 > 0:11:11And I decided to phone my mum's sister, Marguerita.
0:11:11 > 0:11:16Really surprised. I had to sit down. I mean, you stand up and do the...
0:11:16 > 0:11:18Not me. I had to sit down.
0:11:18 > 0:11:20He said, "You don't know who I am.
0:11:20 > 0:11:23"I think my mum is your sister."
0:11:24 > 0:11:29I couldn't believe that I'd got another sibling.
0:11:29 > 0:11:33We exchanged photographs, stories,
0:11:33 > 0:11:35so we got to know each other.
0:11:37 > 0:11:41Marguerita's story began with a childhood spent in care.
0:11:41 > 0:11:44When I was two, I was put in a home.
0:11:44 > 0:11:49My sister and my younger brother,
0:11:49 > 0:11:52they also went in the home well after me.
0:11:53 > 0:11:55Eventually, Marguerita and her siblings
0:11:55 > 0:11:58were all fostered by the same family.
0:11:58 > 0:12:01Marguerita went on to have a family of her own
0:12:01 > 0:12:04and had no idea she had a younger sister
0:12:04 > 0:12:07until Basharat called out of the blue.
0:12:07 > 0:12:12I couldn't wait to meet her. I was ecstatic.
0:12:13 > 0:12:17The two new-found sisters arranged to meet.
0:12:17 > 0:12:20When she walked through that door, honestly,
0:12:20 > 0:12:22I thought I was looking in the mirror.
0:12:23 > 0:12:26We are identical. Absolutely.
0:12:26 > 0:12:31Mum never really thought that she
0:12:31 > 0:12:34- had another family within the UK. - No.
0:12:39 > 0:12:41And there, Basharat thought he
0:12:41 > 0:12:44had solved his mother's mystery story.
0:12:44 > 0:12:46But unbeknownst to them all, there was
0:12:46 > 0:12:50another incredible twist in their family tale to come.
0:12:50 > 0:12:54- Marguerita?- Sure is. - I'm Silva.- Hello, Silva.
0:12:59 > 0:13:02100 miles away, in Merseyside,
0:13:02 > 0:13:04Janet's long search for her older half-sister,
0:13:04 > 0:13:09who'd been adopted during the war, seemed to have hit a dead end.
0:13:09 > 0:13:13Then, a change in adoption law gave her new hope.
0:13:13 > 0:13:19From 2005, families could now try and contact relatives
0:13:19 > 0:13:22who had been given up for adoption through official agencies.
0:13:22 > 0:13:27The agency, they were willing to take it on.
0:13:27 > 0:13:30And my husband and I went over with all my bits and pieces
0:13:30 > 0:13:35that I'd got, and she wrote it all down.
0:13:35 > 0:13:39Four months later, the agency called with news.
0:13:39 > 0:13:42I'd been line dancing on the Monday afternoon.
0:13:42 > 0:13:44Came home and the phone went,
0:13:44 > 0:13:47and she said then, "We've found her."
0:13:47 > 0:13:50The agency arranged a first phone call.
0:13:50 > 0:13:51And she said,
0:13:51 > 0:13:54"Oh, could you ring her after ten because she's going line dancing?"
0:13:54 > 0:13:56Of course, I was really pleased.
0:13:56 > 0:14:00I said, "Oh, there's an interest, we both like line dancing."
0:14:00 > 0:14:04And rang her at ten that night and we talked for a good hour
0:14:04 > 0:14:06and it was lovely.
0:14:06 > 0:14:08Really enjoyed it.
0:14:08 > 0:14:13When I phoned her up the first time, it was an hour and 20 minutes.
0:14:13 > 0:14:15And that was good.
0:14:15 > 0:14:17- SHE LAUGHS - That was good.
0:14:17 > 0:14:19You were more pleased at having another bigger sister,
0:14:19 > 0:14:21- weren't you?- Yeah.
0:14:21 > 0:14:24- Another older girl.- Yes.
0:14:24 > 0:14:26- SHE LAUGHS - To boss you.
0:14:26 > 0:14:28So I was still the youngest in the family.
0:14:28 > 0:14:31I was really surprised, and I thought, "Oh, I like this,"
0:14:31 > 0:14:34the fact that I have now got a sister.
0:14:36 > 0:14:40Janet's sister Linda was now called Brenda.
0:14:40 > 0:14:43She had grown up 100 miles away in Birmingham
0:14:43 > 0:14:45with her adoptive parents.
0:14:45 > 0:14:49I had a really good childhood.
0:14:49 > 0:14:53Especially my father, I idolised him.
0:14:53 > 0:14:56I thought he was so lovely.
0:14:56 > 0:15:00You know, I never imagined he wasn't my father.
0:15:02 > 0:15:05Brenda's parents told her she was adopted when she was 16.
0:15:05 > 0:15:11They also revealed that she was related to family friend Mrs Frost.
0:15:11 > 0:15:14I often used to wonder why she took so much interest in me,
0:15:14 > 0:15:17asking me how I was getting on at school and what I was doing
0:15:17 > 0:15:19and everything.
0:15:19 > 0:15:20And even then, it didn't register.
0:15:20 > 0:15:24I just thought, "Oh, why does she take so much interest in me?"
0:15:24 > 0:15:28And then when I was 16 and my mum and dad eventually told me
0:15:28 > 0:15:32that I was adopted, they told me that Mrs Frost was my real aunt.
0:15:34 > 0:15:37Brenda went to visit Mrs Frost.
0:15:37 > 0:15:39She explained how she had erased her adoption
0:15:39 > 0:15:42when her birth mother had to give up baby Brenda
0:15:42 > 0:15:44in order to preserve her marriage.
0:15:44 > 0:15:48She showed me this photograph of my mother, and I went,
0:15:48 > 0:15:50"Oh, that's definitely my mother,"
0:15:50 > 0:15:53because I was the image of her.
0:15:53 > 0:15:58She wore glasses like me, she was a similar build to me.
0:15:58 > 0:16:01And everything, you know, I sort of just thought, "Oh, yeah.
0:16:01 > 0:16:03"That's definitely my mother."
0:16:03 > 0:16:07Brenda decided not to contact her birth mother.
0:16:07 > 0:16:09I didn't want to upset my adoptive parents,
0:16:09 > 0:16:12because they'd been so good and I'd had a good life.
0:16:12 > 0:16:17And secondly, because of the story of my mother,
0:16:17 > 0:16:20I didn't really want to upset her husband,
0:16:20 > 0:16:24because obviously that must've been a big shock for him as well.
0:16:24 > 0:16:27And I just thought, after 16 years,
0:16:27 > 0:16:30did I want to bring all that upheaval?
0:16:32 > 0:16:3616 years turned to 60 years, but little did she know,
0:16:36 > 0:16:38someone was searching for her.
0:16:38 > 0:16:42It was her half-sister Janet.
0:16:42 > 0:16:45This letter came through the post from the After Adoption agency,
0:16:45 > 0:16:50and I just thought it was asking for charity, you know.
0:16:50 > 0:16:51And I very nearly threw it away,
0:16:51 > 0:16:53but then I thought, "Oh, hang on a moment.
0:16:53 > 0:16:56"This is actually addressed to me in person.
0:16:56 > 0:16:58"I better read this letter."
0:16:58 > 0:17:03And then when I read the letter, I went, "Oh, yes!"
0:17:06 > 0:17:08A few months later, Janet and Michael
0:17:08 > 0:17:13prepared to meet their sister Brenda for the first time.
0:17:13 > 0:17:19When I first met Michael and Janet, immediately I felt that connection,
0:17:19 > 0:17:25especially with Janet because Janet and I had got so much in common
0:17:25 > 0:17:27with each other.
0:17:27 > 0:17:31I just felt so happy to see her when we did hug.
0:17:31 > 0:17:34I'm sure my mum is looking down on us,
0:17:34 > 0:17:37and I just think she'd be really pleased
0:17:37 > 0:17:40that we've all found each other,
0:17:40 > 0:17:42because I'm sure it was the last thing
0:17:42 > 0:17:46she ever wanted to do, was to give a baby away.
0:17:50 > 0:17:53Today, Janet, Michael and Brenda
0:17:53 > 0:17:56are meeting up again to exchange more memories
0:17:56 > 0:17:58and to see if they can fill any more of the gaps
0:17:58 > 0:18:02about their family and the early years of their lives.
0:18:07 > 0:18:11- Hello. Hi.- All right?
0:18:13 > 0:18:15- Nice to see you.- Good.
0:18:21 > 0:18:22Janet thinks she's found a clue
0:18:22 > 0:18:26to the identity of Brenda's unknown father.
0:18:26 > 0:18:28I wanted to show you this.
0:18:28 > 0:18:31- I found it in Mum's things.- Mm.
0:18:31 > 0:18:35"My dear Bedrock, I have today heard that he is remitting the sum
0:18:35 > 0:18:39"of £15.17 and sixpence to me with the request
0:18:39 > 0:18:41"that I hand it over to you.
0:18:41 > 0:18:45"The money has not yet arrived, but when it does I'll write again.
0:18:45 > 0:18:46"When you heard from me, I think
0:18:46 > 0:18:49"it will be the best if you come into Liverpool
0:18:49 > 0:18:51"so that I can hand the money over direct."
0:18:51 > 0:18:57And it's from the senior chaplain at the welfare department.
0:18:57 > 0:19:00The letter, found amongst Nelly's possessions,
0:19:00 > 0:19:02details money being given to the family
0:19:02 > 0:19:05by a Stoker on a Royal Navy ship.
0:19:05 > 0:19:08I wonder if Stoker was...
0:19:08 > 0:19:12- Your father.- ..my father. - I don't know.
0:19:12 > 0:19:14There are many more mentions of the same man
0:19:14 > 0:19:16in their mother's effects.
0:19:16 > 0:19:20You see, that's in Mum's autograph book.
0:19:20 > 0:19:24"Leaves may fall, flowers may..."
0:19:24 > 0:19:29- "Die."- "..die. Friends may..."
0:19:29 > 0:19:31- "Forget you."- "..forget you, but..."
0:19:31 > 0:19:32Something... "Will I," is it?
0:19:32 > 0:19:35"Neither will I. Neither will I."
0:19:35 > 0:19:38- Ah!- That's what I think.- Actually, I didn't know you'd got this.
0:19:38 > 0:19:40- Didn't you?- No.
0:19:41 > 0:19:43That's something that
0:19:43 > 0:19:46I would really like to know, out of interest,
0:19:46 > 0:19:51Where he came from and what sort of a person he was.
0:19:51 > 0:19:53He could be there.
0:19:53 > 0:19:58- Amazing, isn't it?- Mm.- Oh, yeah.
0:19:58 > 0:20:02- That would be interesting if that's what it was.- Mm.- Mm.
0:20:02 > 0:20:04We found you, and that's the main thing, isn't it?
0:20:04 > 0:20:07That's true. Yeah.
0:20:07 > 0:20:08Love you.
0:20:10 > 0:20:13Can't describe it. It's just...
0:20:13 > 0:20:17- It's magical.- Magical. Yeah. Obviously magical.
0:20:17 > 0:20:19Having siblings to me is really good
0:20:19 > 0:20:24because it gives me a feeling of belonging somewhere
0:20:24 > 0:20:29which at times I've not always felt like that,
0:20:29 > 0:20:37and that just puts a nice sort of final polish on the whole affair.
0:20:37 > 0:20:41When Mum was alive, if anything happened, exciting
0:20:41 > 0:20:42or something nice happened,
0:20:42 > 0:20:45- I'd ring her up and tell her, and now I ring you up.- Yeah.
0:20:45 > 0:20:48- THEY LAUGH - That's right, yeah. And I ring you.
0:20:48 > 0:20:51- We've got a few more years together, haven't we?- Yeah.
0:20:51 > 0:20:54That's the joy of the whole finding the birth certificate and...
0:20:54 > 0:20:57- Finding the person.- Yeah.
0:20:57 > 0:20:58Finding out what she's like.
0:20:58 > 0:21:00- It's like having a new friend...- Yeah.
0:21:00 > 0:21:02..as well as a new sister, so...
0:21:02 > 0:21:04- To Mum.- To Mum, yeah.
0:21:14 > 0:21:18In Birmingham, Yasmin and her son Basharat were unravelling
0:21:18 > 0:21:21their complicated family history.
0:21:21 > 0:21:25Yasmin was born in England but brought up by her adoptive father
0:21:25 > 0:21:29in Pakistan before returning to the UK in the '60s.
0:21:29 > 0:21:32Basharat's detective work had revealed that his mother
0:21:32 > 0:21:36had other siblings in the UK she hadn't known existed,
0:21:36 > 0:21:38including her sister, Marguerita,
0:21:38 > 0:21:42and that, he thought, was the end of the search.
0:21:42 > 0:21:47In 2014 I received a letter in the post
0:21:47 > 0:21:51and it was quite a surprise for myself.
0:21:51 > 0:21:55The letter came from a couple called John and Silva Scott.
0:21:55 > 0:21:58It threw Basharat's carefully constructed family history
0:21:58 > 0:22:01into confusion once again.
0:22:01 > 0:22:07John mentioned in the letter that Silva was a sibling to my mum
0:22:07 > 0:22:09and that she had the same mother.
0:22:09 > 0:22:12This became another shock for myself
0:22:12 > 0:22:15as I felt the searches that we had done
0:22:15 > 0:22:19were completed and there wasn't any other siblings.
0:22:19 > 0:22:23Basharat immediately got in touch with John and Silva.
0:22:23 > 0:22:25Silva's story left no room for doubt
0:22:25 > 0:22:30that she was in fact Yasmin's and Marguerita's half-sister.
0:22:30 > 0:22:34I was adopted when I was 4.5 years old.
0:22:34 > 0:22:39From when I could understand, I knew that my parents,
0:22:39 > 0:22:44one was Asian and one was white, but nothing else.
0:22:44 > 0:22:48I don't even know why I was put up for adoption,
0:22:48 > 0:22:52and that's always been a question that has never been answered.
0:22:52 > 0:22:55My childhood was really, really happy.
0:22:55 > 0:22:58I had wonderful parents and a brother and a sister
0:22:58 > 0:23:03and we all got on really well and it was just wonderful.
0:23:03 > 0:23:07When I was a teenager, I did wonder about my birth parents,
0:23:07 > 0:23:11but then when I became 18, I thought,
0:23:11 > 0:23:14"No, because I've had such a wonderful life,
0:23:14 > 0:23:16"and there must've been a reason,
0:23:16 > 0:23:20"so we'll just let sleeping dogs lie."
0:23:20 > 0:23:23But in 2013, Silva became ill.
0:23:23 > 0:23:25We went to a specialist.
0:23:25 > 0:23:28They confirmed she had ovarian cancer.
0:23:28 > 0:23:32They kept asking, "Is there any cancer in the family?"
0:23:32 > 0:23:34And we had to say, "We don't know
0:23:34 > 0:23:37"because we don't know the biological family."
0:23:37 > 0:23:39It was then that Silva's husband John
0:23:39 > 0:23:42started his search for her birth family.
0:23:42 > 0:23:47Silva's adoption records gave her birth mother's name Ellen Din.
0:23:47 > 0:23:50Next, John traced Ellen's other children,
0:23:50 > 0:23:53including Yasmin - Silva's half-sister.
0:23:53 > 0:23:55The biggest shock was finding out
0:23:55 > 0:23:58that I had other siblings within this country,
0:23:58 > 0:24:05so that was something that I had to get used to.
0:24:05 > 0:24:07After making contact,
0:24:07 > 0:24:09first by letter and then on the phone,
0:24:09 > 0:24:12the two sisters and their families decided to meet.
0:24:12 > 0:24:14They were so lovely.
0:24:14 > 0:24:16It was so easy to get on with them,
0:24:16 > 0:24:20and we welcomed them into our home and we had a lovely visit.
0:24:20 > 0:24:27We met. We went to their house, and it was fantastic meeting her.
0:24:27 > 0:24:29It was a surprise for everybody.
0:24:29 > 0:24:33We got on really well, and may our relationship blossom.
0:24:33 > 0:24:36It was like meeting a stranger for the first time,
0:24:36 > 0:24:42but we did have a warmth afterwards because we do share the same mother.
0:24:43 > 0:24:46Now Silva and Yasmin have been reunited,
0:24:46 > 0:24:48today marks a new chapter
0:24:48 > 0:24:51in the complicated story of Basharat's family.
0:24:51 > 0:24:54This afternoon, Yasmin and Basharat
0:24:54 > 0:24:56are bringing together the two sisters
0:24:56 > 0:25:00who have still never met - Marguerita and Silva.
0:25:00 > 0:25:01I do feel excited.
0:25:01 > 0:25:07I also feel a bit of apprehension because it's another stranger,
0:25:07 > 0:25:11but looking forward to it also.
0:25:11 > 0:25:15Family is important to me, very important,
0:25:15 > 0:25:21so to find that I've now got extra ones, it's even more so.
0:25:21 > 0:25:23Real excitement.
0:25:30 > 0:25:32Yasmin.
0:25:33 > 0:25:36- How are you?- Very well, very well.
0:25:36 > 0:25:38And you? How are you?
0:25:38 > 0:25:40Are you excited?
0:25:40 > 0:25:42- Yes, I am. - SHE LAUGHS
0:25:47 > 0:25:50With Yasmin and Silva in place,
0:25:50 > 0:25:53it's time for Marguerita to meet the second sister
0:25:53 > 0:25:56she never knew she had - Silva.
0:26:00 > 0:26:03- Marguerita?- Sure is.- I'm Silva.
0:26:03 > 0:26:05Hello, Silva.
0:26:06 > 0:26:08Are you looking forward to this?
0:26:08 > 0:26:10This is wonderful, to meet you.
0:26:10 > 0:26:12- Yes.- Nice.
0:26:12 > 0:26:14- This is real. - I know it is.- This is real.
0:26:14 > 0:26:17- I think this every time things happen.- Yeah.
0:26:17 > 0:26:19I mean, I've been through this before.
0:26:19 > 0:26:21- Well, that's right.- Haven't I?- Yeah.
0:26:21 > 0:26:25- Just so much alike. - Absolutely. I know.
0:26:25 > 0:26:28- I still can't get over it.- No.- No.
0:26:29 > 0:26:34It took ten years to unravel the complicated family web
0:26:34 > 0:26:37that has brought these three sisters together here today.
0:26:37 > 0:26:41And even now, there are new twists to their story.
0:26:41 > 0:26:44The family believe that Yasmin's adoptive father,
0:26:44 > 0:26:49who took her to Pakistan, was also Silva's birth father.
0:26:49 > 0:26:51So, your father brought...
0:26:51 > 0:26:54My biological father brought Yasmin up, yes.
0:26:54 > 0:26:56- Yep.- Yeah.
0:26:56 > 0:26:58- Yeah.- Yes.
0:26:58 > 0:27:01Such a strange situation... for all of us.
0:27:01 > 0:27:05- But great.- Absolutely.
0:27:05 > 0:27:07What happened to us at birth
0:27:07 > 0:27:12and the way we were all brought up differently
0:27:12 > 0:27:16but yet in all the years, we've found each other.
0:27:16 > 0:27:21Doing this today has just been the start of something
0:27:21 > 0:27:23that can carry on.
0:27:23 > 0:27:24Thank you.
0:27:27 > 0:27:30'We've had an amazing time meeting each other today.
0:27:30 > 0:27:34'It was what it was all about when we set off on this road'
0:27:34 > 0:27:35of searching for people and your mum.
0:27:35 > 0:27:38- Yeah, very nice. - Searching for your mum.
0:27:38 > 0:27:40We went looking for your mum and found two sisters.
0:27:40 > 0:27:43- OK.- Yeah?- Yeah.- Yeah.
0:27:45 > 0:27:47Good to see you again.
0:27:47 > 0:27:49'To see them both has been out of this world.'
0:27:51 > 0:27:54I'm...I'm just gobsmacked.
0:27:54 > 0:27:57- It's been really lovely. - This has been really wonderful.
0:27:57 > 0:28:01- Uh-huh. I'm taller than you.- Oh. - THEY LAUGH
0:28:01 > 0:28:03This is the start of something,
0:28:03 > 0:28:09and we need to make sure we progress with it and carry on.