The new series of Long Lost Family: Born Without A Trace unravels the mysteries of a baby left in a stranger’s pram and another tot born in a toilet block

 

 

Foundling Lisa smiles in a family snap with her own son

Lisa, who features on Long Lost Family: Without A Trace was adopted and went on to have a son of her own(Image: ITV)
Lisa was just a few hours old when she was left in another baby’s pram with a note begging strangers to care for her. “The note pinned to me said, ‘Please take care of her, I cannot and never will be able to give her a good home where she will be happy. She is just born and needs a doctor,’” recalls an emotional Lisa, who was born in 1969.

Lisa’s story features on Long Lost Family : Born Without A Trace, which is returning for a seventh series, hosted once again by Davina McCall and Nicky Campbell. On the show, Davina and Lisa, now 55, head to Christchurch in Dorset and visit the site where Lisa was found. Her mother had waited outside a health clinic and when she’d seen a pram left empty, she slid her own baby in, knowing she would be quickly discovered by another mother who could raise the alarm and seek medical help.

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Davina smiles with Lisa who has dark hair and glasses and is in her fifties

Davina McCall with Lisa, who was discovered in another child’s pram when she was just hours old(Image: ITV)

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“My story started the day I was found,” recalls Lisa on the show. “What I need to know now is what happened before. Why was I left in another child’s pram? Who left me? I assume it was my birth mother. I just want to know the truth. I feel she must have been local to have known about the clinic.”

Standing on the street outside the clinic, Lisa, who had a happy childhood with her adopted parents, tries to imagine her birth mother’s emotional state. “I’m trying to think how she must have been feeling, waiting for somebody to leave their pram outside and take that opportunity, waiting for that perfect moment so I would be found quickly,” says Lisa. “I can only assume that my birth mother was young, maybe frightened. I was only hours old, she must have known what she was going to do.”

Davina McCall wears a green jacket and Nicky Campbell wears a navy jacket as they pose in the street, smiling

Davina McCall and Nicky Campbell host Long Lost Family: Without A Trace(Image: ITV)

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Lisa grew up in Hampshire and later had a son of her own. It wasn’t until 2005 that she accessed her adoption file and was given the note she was found with. “To actually have the original note means so much to me, it’s the one thing that connects me to her. So precious,” says Lisa. “It just reminds me how much she wanted me to be happy. It takes the negativity of the abandonment away because I know she cared.”

Episode one of the new series also tells the story of baby Simon who was left in an outside toilet block next to a children’s home in Wales. “I was only a few hours old when I was found,” says Simon, now 58. “Nobody has ever come forward. As far as I know there was nothing left with me, no note, nothing, just as I was.”

Davina hosts Long Lost Family, pictured here with Simon

Davina hosts Long Lost Family, pictured here with Simon(Image: ITV)

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Simon was adopted and grew up in a village 10 miles away from the children’s home. He discovered he was a foundling when he was nine years old and confided in his best friend, whose mother remembered the police investigation around Simon’s birth and reassured him that every effort had been made to find his biological mother.

Simon grew up and married wife Helen, and the couple went on to have three daughters. His adoptive parents are now dead.

After watching Long Lost Family : Born Without A Trace in 2023, Simon told Helen he would like to find his family through DNA testing. Helen encouraged Simon but was then diagnosed with cancer, and sadly died. After her death, Simon decided to go ahead. “In September, she passed away,” says Simon. “It is hard, but she’d want me to carry on.”

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Simon smiles in a sunny garden wearing a navy half zip top

Simon see a photograph of himself as a baby for the first time on the show
Simon doesn’t have any photos of himself as a baby but host Nicky and the team came up trumps. An old black and white newsreel from 1966, appealing for Simon’s mother to come forward, shows Simon as a baby being cared for by a nurse. “That’s the first time I’ve ever seen myself as a baby,” says Simon. “I look as if I was cared for. There’s so much to take in. It’s mindblowing. I hope that by doing this now I do get my answers, because that’s what I need.”