United Kingdom Mom Finds Son

“A mother who found the son she had given up for adoption had fallen into a life of drink and homelessness when she was reunited with him over five decades later, has shared their touching story.

Hazel Stubbs Races, 80, a former nurse from Alton, Hampshire, first appeared on ITV’s Long Lost Family three years ago, looking for the son she was forced to give up when she fell pregnant at the age of 22, in 1961.

However when the two were reunited in 2015, they felt their story was too sensitive to be shown.

Kenneth was living rough in Blackpool, suffering from a drink problem and suspected mental health issues. Three years on, the family felt ready to share their story.

Appearing in ‘Long Lost Family: What happened next’ last night, Hazel revealed how she helped Kenneth, now 58, rebuild his life. The duo now live together in Basingstoke, after she helped him find a job, ditch his drinking habit, and even visit a dentist after he lost all his teeth.

When Hazel was first reunited with Kenneth, she found he was living in an abandoned pub , having lost all hope for his future.

Speaking on the show three years later, last night, she said: ‘There was never a day he was not in my thoughts, I wanted to know he was okay’.

When Hazel was first reunited with Kenneth, she found he was living in an abandoned pub , having lost all hope for his future.

Speaking on the show three years later, last night, she said: ‘There was never a day he was not in my thoughts, I wanted to know he was okay’.

According to Hazel, the soldier condemned her, threatening to get his friends to ‘swear in court that they had all had sex with her’.

Without the support of him or her family, Hazel decided to hand in her notice and start a new life in London.

She remembered how the hospital she worked in offered her an abortion, but she refused.

Hazel stayed with a lady in London, who offered her shelter until she gave birth, and organised the private adoption of Kenneth, who was born on the 19 February 1961.

‘I just wanted him to be wanted and welcomed’, Hazel sobbed as she remembered giving him up.

In the years that followed Hazel went onto marry and welcome two children, and now lives with her youngest daughter Angela.

Together they spent thirty years searching for him, with many unsuccessful attempts to find him.

Appearing on the ITV show in 2015, he was finally traced to Blackpool, but sadly his life had turned out nothing like Hazel had hoped.

Kenneth had been left homeless, he had a severe drink problem and had been diagnosed with suspected paranoid schizophrenia.

In the years that followed Hazel went onto marry and welcome two children, and now lives with her youngest daughter Angela.

Together they spent thirty years searching for him, with many unsuccessful attempts to find him.

Appearing on the ITV show in 2015, he was finally traced to Blackpool, but sadly his life had turned out nothing like Hazel had hoped.

Kenneth had been left homeless, he had a severe drink problem and had been diagnosed with suspected paranoid schizophrenia.

Kenneth continued: ‘When I heard my birth mother was looking for me I just collapsed and cried. But I was scared. I was worried they wouldn’t want to meet me – but as it turned out, it went the other way’.

The family met for the first time in private. After Kenneth and Hazel were reunited, an incredible process of transformation began.

Revisiting the place they first reunited, Hazel and Angela met Kenneth again – this time on camera.

‘The first time we met was incredible, I recognised him immediately’, Hazel recalled, speaking to presenter Davina.

‘Thank you so much for finding me’, Kenneth said as he broke down into sobs, ‘it means so much to me.

‘I wasn’t very happy, I was out of a job, smoking and drinking with no future,’ he added.

Looking at the pictures of him when they first met three years ago, Angela said: ‘He looks so different. He looked about 10 years older then.

‘The first thing he said was “I don’t think they’re going to want to know me when they discover I’m schizophrenic.’

Hazel added: ‘That didn’t worry me at all. I worked in mental health and you can manage all kinds of illnesses, mental and physical’.

Then the family made a new revelation.

‘We cottoned on pretty quickly that he wasn’t schizophrenic. In the last two weeks he’s been correctly diagnoses as autistic with possible ADHD. We knew there were areas we had to help him with’, Angela said.

Kenneth proclaimed: ‘I have a job now. I don’t smoke, I don’t drink.’

‘Every area of his life – there’s not a part that hasn’t been touched or changed. I’m so proud of you, you’re amazing’, Angela added, getting emotional.

‘It wasn’t what I meant for you’, Hazel said of his tough upbringing. ‘He’s survived but he’s back where he belongs now. No one can do a single thing about the past. We can only deal with now, and he’s got what he should have had.’

‘I feel very lucky’, Kenneth admitted. ‘I’ve got everything I need’.

Kenneth has left Blackpool and moved to Basingstoke, and now lives with Angela, Angela’s wife Debbie, and his birth mother Hazel, as well as becoming close to his other sister Madeline.

‘They rescued me just in time, they love me and I love them’, he concluded, as he called Hazel ‘mum’ during a country walk.

‘I don’t think we could be apart now’, Hazel added. ‘I have more than a lot of people have’.”

Mother who discovered the son she put up for adoption 60 years ago had become a homeless alcoholic reveals how she turned his life around by letting him move in and helping him find a job

[Daily Mail 8/6/19 by Jessica Rach]

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