Relevant background
2The relevant background is set out in E’s statement dated 11 December 2021. It provides a very powerful account of the journey E has embarked on to be able to complete the circle in relation to her own identity. 3She was born in 1945. Within a matter of days she was placed with adoptive parents, B and C, who subsequently adopted her in the latter part of that year. They were, on the information the court has, enlightened adoptive parents because, from an early age, they informed E she was adopted and that as her birth parents were each married to somebody else, it was not possible for her to remain with them. Their enlightened approach gave further information as E grew older about the circumstances of her birth and the information they had which they could share. Her adoptive parents gave her a photograph of her birth father, which undoubtedly was a possession treasured by E.4She grew up, left her adoptive parents’ home, married herself, and had her own children. Each of her own children have had their own children and the applicant describes in her statement her very great pride in not only being a mother, but also a grandmother. 5Following her separation from her husband, she began to reflect on her own particular background and decided to embark on finding out more about her particular circumstances and the circumstances of her birth. Prior to the internet facilities, that are so readily available now, she went to the town where she was born, and sought to make some enquiries herself there on the ground, but gained limited additional information. Her adoptive parents died.6In 2016, her son offered to help her look for her birth family and whether there was any wider family. On securing her birth certificate, it gave the name of her birth mother, but did not give any details in relation to her birth father’s name. Through the assistance of her son, enquiries discovered that her birth mother had emigrated to Australia after the war and through various routes they were able to track down members of her family there. Through those enquiries, she learned that her birth mother had died and attached to her statement is the front cover of the order of service from her funeral. At that time, she learned her birth mother had an older child and she and her husband apparently went on to have eight more children together. So, there was an enormous maternal birth family to engage with. 7In her statement E describes her joy at being able to be put in touch with them, which was reciprocated by the various members of the family she contacted and how welcome she was made when she made her trip to Australia to meet them all. One resulting in a newspaper article in the local newspaper.8The applicant E remained keen to learn about her birth father’s circumstances. She had the photograph and also a nickname that he was known by, but little more than that. At her son’s suggestion, she joined one of the genealogical websites and provided her DNA. Through the second website she registered with, there was an immediate match with what turned out to be a third cousin who put the applicant in touch with other relatives from her birth father’s family, who identified the birth father as D. Further enquiries revealed that he died and his two siblings had also died. One of the relatives the applicant was put in touch with recognised him as her uncle from the photograph and her mother was his sister.9As a consequence of these enquiries, the applicant was able to put together the family tree set out in the papers. The applicant requested whether her birth father’s niece and nephew would agree to DNA testing to be able to determine the position in relation to the biological link. They agreed and DNA testing was undertaken through an organisation called Anglia DNA, which is one of the recognised DNA providers the court is well used to seeing reports from. The two test results that were undertaken, not only as between the cousins but also between one of them and the applicant, were reported back in October 2020 and confirmed the biological connection. During this hearing, I raised the issue that the documents in the bundle were not altogether clear as to precisely what the strength of the DNA connection is. More information was provided about what they relied upon which has been helpfully provided during this hearing. The important part of the information that came back from the DNA test is the following:“The DNA profiles of individual 1 and individual 2 were compared and statistical analysis was performed. Based on this analysis, the results were fifty-eight times more likely if individual 1 E and individual 2 are related as cousins rather than if they are unrelated. Therefore, the probability of relationship is 98.32 per cent.”So, on any view, a very strong indicator of the biological connection.10The applicant discovered that her birth father had four other children, two she discovered had died and she was unable to make contact with one of them. It appears from the information obtained during the hearing that appeared to be as a result of her not wanting her information to be shared. She did make contact with the other child who she had contact with but has since been reported as not being willing to have further communication with her.11This journey, as described in the statement, has been a great joy for the applicant. What it has done is brought the various pieces of information she had to be joined up to complete the picture in relation to the circumstances of her birth. She describes in her statement the regular contact that she has with a number of members of the birth paternal family and although they are in regular weekly contact, they have had limited opportunity to be able to meet in person because of the various Covid restrictions that have applied but their plan is to be able to in due course meet in person.12The applicant made this application in circumstances where she had sadly experienced serious illness, which fortunately has been treated successfully. However, she felt it was important in relation to her own identity and that of her family to establish her own background which included the recognition of her birth father being recorded on her birth certificate. It was in these circumstances that she made the application before the court today.